A partial owner of a hotel company seeks dismissal from a lawsuit alleging the company fraudulently concealed an expected increase in real estate taxes in order to secure the sale of a Mascoutah hotel.
Defendant Barry Hayden filed a motion to dismiss on June 17 through attorney Dominic Kujawa of Belleville.
Hayden argues that he should not be named a defendant because he is acting on behalf of B.W. Hotels and not in his individual capacity.
In his motion to dismiss, Hayden explains that defendant B.W. Hotels LLC was established Aug. 14, 2013, and has more than nine members, including Hayden.
Hayden's ownership interest is 27 percent.
Plaintiff Thane Kifer filed the complaint on April 8 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Hayden and B.W. Hotels LLC.
According to the complaint, Kifer claims he entered into a hotel/motel purchase agreement on July 14, 2018. He claims B.W. Hotels agreed to sell certain real estate to Kifer for $4,743,000. The property is described as an 85-unit Best Western Plus/SAFB hotel/motel with an indoor pool located on Hayden Drive in Mascoutah. The purchase included all furniture, fixtures, equipment, inventory, food and beverage inventory, and all offsite materials pertaining to the property, the suit states. The sale closed on Oct. 10, 2018.
Kifer claims that in 2017, the property was valued by the St. Clair County Board of Review at approximately $1,700,000 with a real estate tax assessment of $50.101.64.
Kifer alleges Hayden, who executed a document to effectuate the agreement, received the proceeds from the purchase.
In May 2019, Kifer claims he received a bill from the St. Clair County Board of Review for the 2018 real estate taxes, where he learned that there was “a substantial increase” from the 2017 to the 2018 tax year.
The plaintiff alleges he learned that on Aug. 16, 2018, a notice of reassessment was sent to B.W. Hotels reflecting a market value in excess of $4 million, causing the taxes to increase to $120,259.34. B.W. Hotels allegedly protested the reassessment and successfully lowered the market value of the property down to $2.25 million, thereby lowering the tax bill to approximately $64,000. A hearing had been scheduled for Dec. 3, 2018.
However, Kifer alleges B.W. Hotels cancelled the hearing date following the closing on the sale of the property. Kifer claims B.W. Hotels and Hayden concealed and suppressed the fact that the real estate taxes were set to increase “substantially.”
“BW Hotels and Hayden undertook the concealment and suppression of this fact with the intent to induce a false belief that the fact did not exist in order to induce Kifer to close on the sale of the property,” the suit states
“The concealment was material to Kifer’s decision to close on the sale of the property and was undertaken by BW Hotels and Hayden with conscious disregard and reckless indifference to the rights of Kifer,” it continues.
Kifer argues that the defendants owe him payments for their share of the 2018 real estate taxes.
He seeks a judgment in excess of $50,000, plus punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, and attorney’s fees.
Kifer is represented by Arthur Gregg of Spencer Fane LLP in St. Louis.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 20-L-289