The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The legal battle over a well-known Abaco resort/marina development has experienced a new twist, after the Supreme Court issued an order removing its receiver.

Justice Stephen Isaacs, in a January 14, 2014, Order, has removed - at least for the moment - the Grant Thornton (Bahamas) team, led by Paul ‘Andy’ Gomez, which had taken control of the 203-acre Orchid Bay Resort & Marina late last year.

He has returned the development’s control to Coastal Property Services, the company that holds a debenture secured over a portion of Orchid Bay’s real estate, and its receiver, James Albury.

The temporary injunction issued by Justice Isaacs requires Grant Thornton (Bahamas) to “yield possession and control of the real property and other assets owned by, or stored on, the property” of Orchid Bay back to Coastal Property Services and Mr Albury.

The Bahamian accounting firm has also been ordered to deliver up “all computers, records, documents and information” under its control during the receivership, plus any keys to new locks that may have been installed.

And Grant Thornton (Bahamas) must also give “a detailed accounting of all the funds received” during their occupation of Orchid Bay.

Grant Thornton (Bahamas) eviction may only be temporary, though. The Order removing it as receiver was obtained at a hearing where only Coastal Property Services was represented, via the Glinton, Sweeting & O’Brien partner, Roy Sweeting.

The Supreme Court has set February 6, 2014, as a date when Grant Thornton (Bahamas) and its attorneys, ParrisWhittaker, can apply to set the Order removing them aside.

The action brought before Justice Isaacs is also somewhat unusual in that all proceedings relating to Orchid Bay and its holding company, Great Guana Cay (Abaco) Development Company, have to-date been heard in Freeport before Justice Estelle Gray-Evans.

Coastal Property Services and Mr Albury had suffered a succession of court defeats at the hands of Grant Thornton (Bahamas) and its attorney, Jacy Whittaker, there, and it is likely the latter will attempt to consolidate the Nassau filing and bring it to Freeport.

Grant Thornton (Bahamas) and Mr Gomez had been appointed as receiver/manager for the William B. Johnson Investment Company and William B. Johnson entities, which own the outstanding and issued shares in Guana Cay Abaco Development Company.

US bank, Synovus, is the main lender/creditor of those companies’ principal, businessman William B. Johnson, a well-known American entrepreneur who was once the owner of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain.

Mr Johnson since then has become ill, and run into financial difficulties, owning numerous creditors significant sums.

He is thought to have owned Orchid Bay for some 20 years, and invested considerable sums in installing all the necessary infrastructure.

The Alburys, though, had long indicated their intention to take legal action to overturn the Grant Thornton takeover.

Mr Sweeting had alleged in a June 4, 2013, e-mail response to Mr Gomez that the court orders he was operating under were “wholly defective”.

He had urged the Grant Thornton accountant to “act in good faith” given “the precariousness of your own position”.

Yet Mr Gomez had alleged that Mr Albury had placed himself in “numerous conflicting positions”, and sold Orchid Bay property valued at $16 million for just over $1 million.

Apart from his capacity as Orchid Bay’s vice-president of operations, Mr Albury is also the administrator and a director of Coastal, the company holding the charge over its real estate.

And, in addition, Mr Albury and his wife, and their companies, had also obtained default judgments worth more than $434,000 against Orchid Bay and its parent over salaries and other sums allegedly owed to them.