Comments (18) | Add a comment
Unhappy condominium buyers sue Cosmopolitan's owners
-
John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal File Photo
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is seen Nov. 28. In a lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court, Cosmopolitan condominium investors claim Deutsche Bank and Nevada Property 1 decided to abandon the hotel's planned condo component and build a hotel-casino. » Buy this photo
Tools
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas continues to deal with disgruntled condominium buyers, even though many of the former owners accepted a settlement to walk away from their purchases.
Attorneys representing four buyers who participated in the $60 million settlement and a former employee filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to have their clients' entire deposits returned.
The lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court claimed The Cosmopolitan's owners misled investors into accepting the settlement and receiving 74 of their deposit principal.
In their complaint, attorneys with the Las Vegas-based law firm Santoro, Driggs, Walsh, Kearney, Holley and Thompson are seeking class action status and a jury trial to force the owners to return their clients' entire deposit with interest.
Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary Nevada Property 1 LLC acquired the property in 2008 from 3700 Associates LLC, the original developer, which defaulted on $760 million in loans made by the German bank. At the time of the purchase on 2005 and 2006, the original developer promised the units would be ready to occupy in early 2008.
According to the 16-page complaint, Deutsche Bank and Nevada Property 1 decided to abandon The Cosmopolitan's condominium component and build a hotel-casino property.
"Once (they) made that material decision, they were legally and contractually obliged to disclose it. (They) instead decided to conceal their decision and use the class actions that were filed by buyers to negotiate a partial refund of plaintiff's deposits, so that they could coerce (them) into forfeiting over $150 million of their and interest to The Cosmopolitan, despite their decision to convert the project to all-hotel," the complaint said.
Messages left with officials from The Cosmopolitan were not returned.
The lawsuit also seeks a permanent injunction to protect Todd Mastej, a former employee of 3700 Associates and Nevada Property 1, from retaliation for passing on documents that showed the units "failed to meet applicable soundproofing standards" and that it was decided in 2009 to make the project all hotel and make "significant material changes to the plans of their units."
The complaint accused the owner of committing fraud "by negotiating a class action settlement that called for a partial refund ... under the auspice that The Cosmopolitan was proceeding with its construction and conveyance of (the) condominium units, while in reality (they) had no good faith intention or desire to actually" deliver the units.
Potential buyers paid deposits of 20 percent to secure one of the condominiums. In April 2010, Cosmopolitan developers finalized a $60 million settlement with more than 400 buyers involved in a class action lawsuit.
The luxury condominiums on the Strip had been priced in the high six-figure to low-seven figure range when the Las Vegas housing market collapsed.
Approximately $250 million in deposits were paid to hold the condos. Even after the settlement, Deutsche Bank and Nevada Property 1 retained more than $150 million in deposits and interest, according to the lawsuit.
Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
where is Catherine Masto the attorney general in all of this. why is she standing around while this german bank robs american investors of their money. las vegas is corrupt and for this reason i have stopped vacation here even though my wife loves the place. i will not travel to a jurisdiction that houses corporate criminals. the investors here where robbed. sorry but those of you feel otherwise are misinformed. And if you dont want to feel sympathy for those who were tricked into accepting a settlement, than at least pitty those who have recieved none of their money back and are paying attorneys to fight these corprate criminals. Anybody who stays or gambles at this hotel is doing so at the expense of their neighbors.
losers get buyers remorse
i love to see these greedy losers suffer
ya baby
let me see if i understand this... people wanted condos, signed papers, upset because the values dropped and condos not ready.... sued..... settled..... and now they are not happy with the settlement that they received and agreed to? what am i missing? they settled... seems like double jeopardy to me..
Day of Reckoning coming (can't wait!)...
Our military, law enforcement, and ELECTED OFFICIALS need to HONOR THEIR OATH TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION!!!
oathkeepers.org
It's all W's fault. I'm not sure how or why, but I'm waiting for the libtards to blame it on W.
These people should be entitled to all of their money, interest and any monies which they could of profited! Regardless if the company backed out of the original idea of "condominimums" they are "stealing" investors money. They NEVER would of had the "backing" for this project if it wasn't for them investors.
You just have to wonder if, while while sitting in your plush, high dollar condo, you'll have to endure a bunch of Midwest drunks thrashing around next door, raising Hell on a final 4 weekend. Same on the elevators.
Sort of a high rise Animal House?
van snow if this is the armpit of the world why are you reading the armpit's newspaper? Go away.
homer is correct on his observation of the posters on this article. ;-)
The people who deposited 20% of the cost of a unit DESERVE to get the full amount back WITH interest....! Developers all over the country are/have been getting away with "theft" !