Former Dixon Timber Creek Golf Course partners in court against each other: records

DIXON – Former business allies who banded together to save the historic Timber Creek Golf Course are suing each other, seeking compensation for what they say is personal property not returned, unpaid property taxes and damage done to the facility, according to court records.

Richard A. Humphrey Jr., who formed Bogey’s Golf LLC, leased the course at 729 Timber Creek Road from owners Ron Keith and his son, Brett, from April 13, 2019, until the lease expired Dec. 31. He ran Bogey’s Bar & Grill as part of the deal.

Humphrey filed a lawsuit April 10 in Lee County Circuit Court against 815 Golf Club Partners LLC. According to online records from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, the company was founded in March. The company is leasing the property from the Keiths and has reopened Bogey’s restaurant, although for now, it is serving only light drinks and snacks.

In a third-party complaint filed Tuesday, Timber Creek Golf LLC and Timber Creek Real Estate LLC, the companies under which the Keiths own the 108-year-old course, sued Humphrey.

According to the complaint, Humphrey failed to meet the terms of his lease, which included, among other things, paying Timber Creek’s property taxes.

A status hearing is set for Monday.

The Keiths bought the private Dixon Country Club in 2007, renamed it and opened it to the public. But when membership declined and the course was in danger of closing – it didn’t open at all for the 2018 season – they leased it to Humphrey, owner of Humphrey Show Cattle, in the hopes of turning things around.

Kreider Services, which serves people with developmental disabilities, had hoped to buy the course as a source of revenue and job-training opportunities but was unable to raise the $1.4 million needed for repairs and so dropped the effort, Executive Director Jeff Stauter said Friday.

Online records filed with the secretary of state’s office lists as managers Steve Kitzman, owner of Kitzman’s Lumber; Doug Shuler, retired owner of Dixon Auto Body; Tom Rich, a retired Borg Warner engineer; Ryan Harrison, owner of Harrison Insurance Group; and Rich Boysen, retired general manager of Dixon Direct and a member of the KSB Hospital board of directors.

Humphrey’s claims

Humphrey is seeking to either be reimbursed for $30,000 in restaurant and bar equipment – including appliances, TVs, fixtures and furniture that he said the club is using without his permission – or have the property returned to him.

Despite his “numerous” requests, the 815 investors have refused to do either, or to allow him to retrieve it, Humphrey said in the court filing. On April 2, they filed a no-trespass order with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, denying him access to the property, Humphrey said in the suit.

Humphrey wants the court to order that the equipment be returned; that the Keiths pay for any equipment they do keep; that they be ordered to pay $150 in damages for every day since they reopened Bogey’s on April 1; and for “any other relief the court believes is fair and just.”

He initially filed the suit without an attorney but now is represented by Princeton attorney Eric May, records show.

The investors’ response

Dixon attorney Thomas Murray, who represents 815 Real Estate, filed a motion to dismiss Humphrey’s suit April 17, saying the Keiths own the company, not the investment group, and therefore it doesn’t own what Humphrey said is his property.

In addition, Humphrey is seeking both replevin – the restoration of his property – and damages in the same suit, which is improper procedure, Murray argued in the lawsuit.

Judge Doug Lee declined to dismiss the suit at a June 12 hearing.

In response, Murray filed an answer to Humphrey’s complaint Thursday, again denying that his clients are depriving Humphrey of anything.

The response also demanded that Humphrey prove he has a right to the equipment, that the value of the equipment is $30,000, and that the equipment was not taken to satisfy a state tax or to pay off a judgment.

The Keiths’ claims

According to the third-party suit, filed by Sterling attorney Tom Zollinger on the Keiths’ behalf, Humphrey, as Bogey’s Golf, broke the terms of his lease when he:

• Failed to pay the 2021 taxes due of $18,068.50, which Timber Creek Real Estate subsequently paid. He also has indicated he won’t pay the 2022 taxes.
• Failed to turn the water off at the end of the season, despite being reminded to do so, and the pipes froze and burst, resulting in a $10,500 cleaning bill and structural damage yet to be calculated.
• Received an unspecified insurance payment for repairs to a canopy damaged by a school bus, but did not get the repairs done or turn the payment over to Timber Creek.
• Failed to maintain the fairway mower, replaced it with another mower when the first one broke down, then took the new mower, claiming it was sold to him, when it belongs to the course.
• Left $1,564.28 in expenses owed to a supplier go unpaid.
• Failed to maintain golf course equipment, which will result in restoration costs.

In addition, Zollinger asked the judge to affirm that the restaurant equipment and fixtures Humphrey said are his either belong to Timber Creek or, because they weren’t taken in a timely manner, were abandoned.

The suit seeks at least $46,500 for the mower; $10,500 to pay for the cleaning expenses; attorney fees; 12% interest per year on all amounts due, as the lease allows; “and for such other and further relief as deemed just and fit.”