A Hilo businesswoman in the process of buying a vacant bowling alley is suing the property’s seller. ADVERTISING A Hilo businesswoman in the process of buying a vacant bowling alley is suing the property’s seller. Attorney Bob Crudele filed a
A Hilo businesswoman in the process of buying a vacant bowling alley is suing the property’s seller.
Attorney Bob Crudele filed a civil suit Wednesday in Hilo Circuit Court on behalf of M.S. Petroleum Corp., which is owned by Lorraine Shin. The suit names Hilo Lanes Inc. and unnamed “Doe” defendants, and alleges the bowling alley’s sellers are trying to renege on a signed deal.
The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website lists Renton L.K. Nip as Hilo Lanes’ president, Robert L.S. Nip as vice president, Roanne Kaopua as secretary-treasurer and Roland Nip as director.
The suit alleges that on Nov. 30, Hilo Lanes entered an agreement to sell the bowling alley, which has been vacant since May 2014, to M.S. Petroleum for $2.5 million, an escrow account was set up with First American Title Co. and Shin expended about $30,000 on deposit and other expenses related to buying the 52,878-square-foot building on 3.7 acres of commercially zoned land.
The suit claims the seller is now refusing to convey the property to Shin, although she is in compliance with the purchase and sale agreement, including obtaining a mortgage for the purchase price of the property minus deposits in escrow.
The filing requests that Hilo Lanes be required to convey the deed to Shin’s company in exchange for the agreed-upon purchase price, that Hilo Lanes be prohibited from transferring title to anyone else, and also seeks costs and attorney’s fees.
“Buyer is informed and believes, and on that basis alleges that Seller intends to convey the premises to a purchaser other than the Buyer … ,” the document states.
Shin told the Tribune-Herald in early February she hoped the sale would be finalized this month or next “if it all goes smoothly.”
“We are within our rights. We have our financing. We’re just working on getting the (property) appraisal right now. We’re within our time frame of the PSA and we should have everything done by the end of the month,” Shin said Friday.
“I’m asking for specific performance because we’ve done everything correctly. We have an agreement and right now, based on my contract, the financing has been approved. They received my commitment letter (for the mortgage) from my bank. So I have no idea what the sellers are thinking. I wonder if they’re canceling me because they’ve got somebody else offering them more money.”
Shin said she was given only three days notice by First American Title that the escrow account was being canceled and called it “willful misconduct” on the part of the escrow company.”
“I guess the seller was in disagreement with something in the contract … ,” Shin said.
“Escrow notified me on March 21 that there was a discrepancy or a disagreement. … Then they notified us that they would give us mutual instructions on the 22nd. Then on the 22nd, Deitra Lopez (First American Title’s Hilo branch manager) sent me a formal letter saying there was a disagreement between the parties, and as escrow holder, we are going to step aside and either let you folks come to an agreement or it goes to a court decision. We said, ‘OK, everything’s fine.’
“Then, three days later, I get a letter at 5 o’clock that says my escrow has been canceled, just based on the seller’s reasoning. As far as I know, the escrow company can’t do that.”
First American Title Co. is mentioned in the lawsuit but is not a defendant.
Phone messages left Friday for Lopez, Robert Nip and Craig Neher, the agent handling the sale for Sofos Realty Corp. in Honolulu, weren’t returned by press time, nor was an email to Renton Nip with specific questions about the sale and the lawsuit’s allegations.
“I’m just very
disappointed,” said Shin.
“We’ve been working on this for months. I’m very disappointed with First American Title for their willful misconduct of their fiduciary duty. They can’t do that. They have no right.
“… We have met the conditions of the PSA and we’re ready to close. The concept is you have a seller who is willing to sell a property for $2.5 million. And you have a buyer who is willing to pay it within the scope of the agreement. And I’m shocked, myself.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaii
tribune-herald.com.
