Rich ranch at center of lawsuit
Source: HJNews.com, by Aaron Falk
July 31, 2007
Real estate broker accused of misrepresenting $4.7 million sale’s terms
The sale of an 8,500 acre ranch in Rich County is at the center of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.
A real estate broker for Chournos Land and Livestock, based in Box Elder County, misrepresented the terms of the $4.7 million sale, court documents allege.
When developers Michael and Linda Ford bought the Monte Cristo Ranch in January, they thought they were also purchasing the mineral rights to about 85,000 acres of property.
But Chournos executives “bargained to give away rights they no longer owned,” said Paul Moxley, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
A complaint filed in Logan’s 1st District Court accuses Chournos Land and Livestock and real estate broker John Cone of fraud, breach of contract and civil conspiracy. The couple is suing for damages, their attorney said.
“We would never have purchased the property had it not included the 85,000 acres of mineral rights,” Linda Ford said.
Michael Ford’s interest in the property was to create a Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit, which would allow for hunting on the property court documents state.
But becoming a CWMU would require an additional 1,500 acres of land —something Cone promised to take care of, Moxley said.
“That’s where the mineral rights come into play,” he said.
Mineral rights are not automatically transferred when a property is sold, Moxley said.
“You’d have to go to the county recorder’s office and go back to, like, 1860,” to figure out who owns the mineral rights to most properties, he said.
Still, that ownership is valuable.
Ownership means the right to mine on a parcel of land, Moxley said.
Cone allegedly said that leverage — the threat of putting “a junkie oil well next to a million dollar home” — could be used secure the remaining 1,500 acres, court documents state
But the deal never materialized, Moxley said, and the Fords were unable to purchase the necessary amount of surrounding property.
Cone and Chournos dispute the allegations and have filed a counter-suit. The defendants claim they have a right to foreclose on the property because the Fords failed to make a payment on the purchase, according to court documents.
Moxley said his clients have asked a judge if payments could be made to an interest-bearing account until the matter is resolved, but a decision has yet to be made.
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