A couple who agreed to buy a BayView condo unit in February and paid a $73,900 deposit filed suit in Circuit Court against the developer of the condos on Monday, claiming an illegal disclosure statement and purchase agreement were provided, among other allegations.

Meanwhile, the owner of another BayView condo unit, Melinda Funston of Northport, stands to receive the $789,409 she is owed by the developer of the condos following a separate action Monday in Circuit Court.

Attorneys representing the developer, Suttons Pointe Development, L.L.C., on Monday withdrew their May 30 motion to stay enforcement of a judgment against the developer in the Funston case pending an appeal.

Funston purchased a BayView condo unit for $729,000 in May 2005 but subsequently complained that walls and floors of the unit failed to comply with
“sound transmission” requirements for “luxury” condos spelled out in the Michigan Building Code. Funston also hired “expert witnesses” who testified that a water heater and furnace were improperly installed in her unit, among other problems.

Questions about whether water heaters and furnaces were installed properly in units throughout the BayView project led to the firing of Leelanau County Building Inspections department head Robert VanDyke this week after he issued a letter calling for certificates of occupancy to be suspended on all BayView units until “all health and safety concerns are met.” That decision has since been revised by County Administrator, David Gill. (See related story beginning on Page One.)

An arbitrator ruled in January that Funston should get her money back from the developer plus interest and the money she spent to repair and upgrade her unit. Circuit Court Judge Philip E. Rodgers Jr. ruled in April that the arbitrator’s decision should be upheld. The judge also opined that arguments made by the developer’s attorneys against paying Funston back were “frivolous.”

The developer filed a motion to appeal Rodgers’ ruling on May 30.
On Monday, attorneys representing the BayView developer withdrew their appeal.

An attorney representing Funston, Peter Doren of Traverse City, declined to speculate on whether Leelanau County’s action to suspend occupancy certificates for all BayView condo units had any connection to the developer’s decision to withdraw the appeal in the Funston case on Monday.

A reporters’ phone call to a Detroit attorney representing the developer was not returned. Similarly, the resident agent of Suttons Pointe Development L.L.C. and the owner of Livingston Building Company which is overseeing construction at BayView, Marcus Yono, did not return a reporter’s phone call.

“All indications are that they (the developer) will pay the judgment,” Doren said. “My feeling is that the judgment will be paid in full,” he said.

Meanwhile, attorneys for Suttons Pointe Development L.L. C. earlier this week had not yet responded to a suit filed Monday by Norbert and Shelley Baumgartner who agreed to purchase a BayView condo unit in May. Among other allegations, the suit charges that the developer failed to provide a disclosure statement to the Baumgartners as required by state law.

The suit also alleges that when a disclosure statement was eventually provided, the statement indicated that there were “no pending proceedings, either legal or administrative, that involve the Condominium Project or BayView Condominium Association…”

At the time, however, Funston and the developer were embroiled in a legal dispute over whether Funston should get her money back because of defects in her condo unit.

In addition, the suit alleges that the developer failed to put the Baumgartner’s deposit money in an escrow account as required by state law and instead used the money to improve a BayView condo unit.