A Cochise County judge is allowing a German resident who is suing a real estate investment company for fraud to participate in the upcoming trial via Zoom, including giving his sworn testimony via a video teleconference link.
Judge Timothy Dickerson ruled Dec. 17 that Marcel Mattle’s lawsuit filed in 2018 against Border Cities Land Corporation should not be delayed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. As a result, Mattle will be allowed utilize Zoom to observe and participate in the three-day trial slated to start Jan. 11.
Dickerson will empanel nine jurors, eight of whom will ultimately participate in deliberations. Mattle must set his background to a solid, neutral color and a German language interpreter will be provided at the court’s expense, Dickerson ordered.
Mattle’s attorney Stephen Weeks also intends to call current Border Cities president Ruben Teran to testify, as well as former president Scott Ries and shareholder Pamela Dean who introduced Mattle and Ries in early 2017.
It was in April 2017 that Mattle pledged to contribute up to $200,000 to Historic Hospitalities Group LLC, a company owned by Ries, to finance a partnership with Border Cities. Ries was also the president of Border Cities at the time.
Agreements were signed on behalf of both companies and Mattle contends he was promised all of his investment back, along with another $300,000 which could have gone as high as $570,000 once Border Cities sold two of its commercial properties in Bisbee.
DETAILS OF MATTLE’S LAWSUIT HERE
Mattle had only paid $70,000 when Ries was ousted as Border Cities’ president the next year. Teran, the new president, informed Mattle that Border Cities would not honor any agreements signed by Ries. Mattle then sued in late 2018.
Court records show Mattle and Ries entered into an agreement in May 2020, but progress among the remaining defendants slowed due to COVID-19. Then earlier this year the parties agreed to take part in a settlement conference in hopes of resolving the case without trial.
The July 8 settlement conference concluded with a promise by Teran and Vice President Robert Page to advocate to the board of directors to pay $75,000 to Mattle within the next three years. There was not enough support for the deal at a July 21 shareholder meeting, so Teran told Weeks no board meeting took place.
Shortly after, Teran was replaced as Border Cities attorney of record although he remains the company’s president and a stockholder. The new attorney, Joel Borowiec, made his first appearance in the case in September.
Weeks has taken the position that the parties left the conference with a settlement. He asked Dickerson last week to order Border Cities to honor the agreement.
Borowiec, however, countered that the parties only agreed that Teran and Page would seek approval of the proposed payout. “There was not a meeting of minds,” Borowiec argued, noting both sides left the July 8 conference with a different understanding of what was to happen.
Dickerson agreed, ruling on Dec. 17 that the settlement conference did not result in an enforceable agreement. He noted the confusion was partly caused by the settlement conference judge interchanging the terms shareholders, stockholders, and board members while summarizing the proposed agreement.
With less than one month to trial, Dickerson said he would not order another settlement conference. Instead, he is resolute that the trial will start Jan. 11 despite objection by the defendants to the idea of Mattle participating by teleconference from Germany.
One thing the jurors will not hear testimony about the parties’ efforts to settle the case before trial. However, Dickerson has not yet been asked to rule on whether the settlement Mattle entered into with Ries can be introduced as evidence.
Public records show this is the second time Mattle has been a plaintiff in legal action involving a real estate project in Arizona. In 2014 he alleged an attorney engaged in legal malpractice as well as civil conspiracy to aid a fraud in connection with the Apache Spirit Ranch, a high-end guest ranch built in Tombstone by German investors.
The 2014 lawsuit was set to go to trial in a Maricopa County courtroom in mid-2018 but the lawsuit was dismissed at the request of the parties shortly before trial. Terms of the stipulated settlement were not filed with the court. The court file shows Mattle lived in Tombstone for a period of time.
