Halsey Minor, the former local boy who made a fortune in California during the dot-com boom, has made quite a name for himself during the past year for his involvement in numerous squabbles and lawsuits. So it comes as little surprise that Minor has (you guessed it!) filed suit against Lee Danielson, his former agent on the 100-room boutique hotel project that’s come to a standstill on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.
In a suit filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court this month, Minor accuses Danielson and the project’s lender, Specialty Finance Group LLC, of eight counts of various forms of fraud and breach of contract.
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Lee Danielson (left) and Halsey Minor during happier times. |
Specifically, Minor alleges that Danielson colluded with the lender “and actively concealed the fact that the construction budget was not realistic until after the construction loan closed and Halsey Minor was personally on the hook for the cost to complete the project.”
He’s seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages, $350,000 in punitive damages, and whatever else he could get out of a trial. But most significantly, Minor wants out of his obligations to the hotel project, asking that he be released from the development agreement, the construction loan agreement and a restaurant lease that he had set up with Danielson for a high-end food joint to be called “minor’s.”
“It’s just more Halsey smoke screen,” says Danielson, who hasn’t yet been officially served but is familiar with the suit. He points to numerous other lawsuits that Minor is involved with. “This lawsuit is fantasy land.”
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