One day in 2003, a salesman came to the golf course. He talked to the guy that runs the clubhouse through a rental agreement with the Golf Course Board. He told the manager that he wanted to sell him a beverage cart. Of course, it was top-of-the-line and beautiful, as far as beverage carts go...and that wasn't even the good part. The salesman told the clubhouse guy that businesses will pay good money to advertise on his cart...in fact, he'd even sell the advertising, send him the ads to put on the cart and then send him a check every month. The clubhouse manager could then pay for the cart out of the advertising revenue and even have a little left over for his trouble. Sure, the cart cost $13,000, but what does that matter? The advertisers are paying for it anyway, right?
The clubhouse guy bought it hook, line and sinker. Despite the fact that he had no authority to do so, he signed a long-term agreement on behalf of the golf course Board. Once he took delivery and the Board saw the cart, they weren't especially happy. Of course, this is Iowa and people generally try their best to be polite and avoid confrontation. Besides, the advertisers were paying for it anyway, right?
The salesman immediately sold the contract to some financing company in Pennsylvania. The ad money actually came in as promised for a few months. The clubhouse manager put the proceeds into his business account (not the golf course's) and pay for the cart with personal checks. Then the ad money stops coming in because, of course, no one is contractually obligated to actually pay. The clubhouse owner feels he has been cheated and stops paying for the cart...that'll teach 'em!
The finance company proceeds to sue the golf course board in the state of Pennsylvania for breech. When served, the golf course board gives the paperwork to the clubhouse manager and tells him, "This is your mess, clean it up." The clubhouse owner claims he has been cheated and convinces the board to give him $500 to secure the services of legal counsel. Said legal counsel attempts to defend the clubhouse manager rather than the golf course board and unsurprisingly, the plaintiff receives a favorable judgment to the tune of $19,000+.
Now today, 5 years after the clubhouse manager took delivery of the stupid cart, the board president comes to me to see if I can stop the judgment in federal court before they put a lien on their clubhouse. This is the first I had even heard of the transaction. If they had done it right 3 years ago, they could have gotten the contract invalidated and had grounds for counterclaim. Now they are proper fucked.
I don't even like golf.
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1 comment:
I love golf. I just wish I had more time to play.
As for the problem at hand - the first problem is that they tried to throw $500 at a $20,000 problem. That doesn't usually work. The best way for them to avoid the lien: pay the money that is owed. It's time to throw the clubhouse manager and the $500 attorney under the bus and threaten both with lawsuits (for the clubhouse manager exceeding his authority and for malpractice, assuming the cheap attorney really did screw things up). In fact, if the lawyer has malpractice insurance, the Board might want to make its claim now and the malpractice insurance company might do the legal work going forward on behalf of the Board (because that might be cheaper for them than just paying the claim).
Also, if it's a private club, why is it your problem (except for the idea that you want to have a nice golf club in your city - and it wouldn't go away even if the Board fails)?
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