Judge Rules in Favor of Acacia CC, Resolving Last Big Claims

Ruling rejected developer Joseph Aveni’s effort to rescind a 2005 purchase of club land and recoup money spent on a stalled residential project.

According to a report in Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer, Acacia Country Club, Lyndhurst, Ohio, has no obligation to buy back land from a developer whose dreams of a golf-course community fizzled, a Cuyahoga County judge said.

Judge John P. O’Donnell, ruling in favor of the private club, rejected developer Joseph Aveni’s effort to rescind a 2005 purchase of club land and recoup money spent on a stalled residential project.

Aveni believes that a shareholder lawsuit against the club threw doubt on the title of Acacia Country Club Estates and prevented him from selling homes on the 18-acre property. In a Friday filing, O’Donnell said the land sale was legal and that Aveni’s company was not harmed by its deal with the club.

That decision resolves the last major claims in lawsuits that have dogged Acacia since 2007.

“The board’s very pleased with the court’s decision,” Charles Longo, an Acacia board member, told the paper. “We were confident in our legal position all along.”

Aveni could not be reached for comment.

For several years, Acacia has garnered attention for the squabbles between its members and overtures from developers. Faced with falling membership, Acacia’s shareholders have considered selling the club’s 160-acre property. But the recession, coupled with the cloud of litigation, made it hard to find a buyer—at least at a price shareholders would accept.

In more flush times, Acacia fielded offers of $18 million to $25 million for its property. Last year, shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a $10 million cash deal with a buyer tied to an unidentified, publicly traded company.