Judge Rejects Plea to Block Trinitas Foreclosure

SACRAMENTO (Source: Dana M. Nichols The Record, Stockton, Calif.(MCT)  –

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Monday afternoon rejected a last-minute plea to block a foreclosure auction of the Trinitas golf course property.

The auction is scheduled for 10 a.m. today in front of the Calaveras County Courthouse in San Andreas.

Attorneys representing Trinitas owners Mike and Michelle Nemee asked Judge Ronald Sargis to overturn his ruling two months ago that Community Bank of San Joaquin could proceed with a foreclosure auction of the property.
During a hearing Monday afternoon in his Sacramento courtroom, Sargis called the last-minute motion a “back door” way to seek to halt the auction and noted that the Nemees had other legal mechanisms for seeking to stop it.

One of those options would have been to appeal Sargis’ decision on Community Bank of San Joaquin to the U.S. Eastern District Court in Fresno, something the Nemees did briefly before withdrawing that appeal.
The Trinitas legal saga has more dog legs and sand traps than the course itself, which is considered challenging because of the terrain and the course’s design. The course was built without permits in oak-studded ranch lands on the western edge of Calaveras County near Wallace.

More than half the Trinitas property – 160 out of the 280 acres – has already been auctioned and deeded over to Community Bank of San Joaquin. The Nemees and their attorneys claim that despite widespread coverage in news media, they were unaware of the March 2 sale until after it was over.

The Nemees’ account of events has often been in conflict with that of government authorities since 2009, when Calaveras County supervisors twice voted against measures that would have granted legal status to Trinitas.
That same year, Community Bank of San Joaquin foreclosed and the Nemees declared bankruptcy. The bankruptcy case, in turn, allowed the Nemees to delay the foreclosure auction for several years until Sargis concluded they had no realistic plan for bankruptcy reorganization.

In addition, the Nemees also lost a case in which they sought to have Trinitas recognized as a legal form of agritourism under Calaveras County code.

The Nemees are appealing that loss – also in Sargis’ courtroom – to the U.S. Eastern District Court in Fresno.
Meanwhile, U.S. Eastern District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill has ordered all those involved in the agritourism dispute to file briefs on the question of whether losing their property to the bank renders the agritourism dispute moot.
Even if O’Neill in some way resolves the agritourism case this year in his courtroom, the legal battle is likely to drag on.

“Whoever loses this appeal is more than likely going to the 9th Circuit (Court of Appeal). That’s another year and a half,” said Scott M. Reddie, a Fresno-based attorney who is representing Calaveras County in the agritourism appeal.

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/calaveras/