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Likely operator and development team member Samuel Hardage has a history of suing lenders, a partner and a city, summarized below.
- , failed attempt at brand expansion. In 1998, a Nomura Asset Capital Corporation subsidiary purchased a 35% interest in Hardage Suite Hotels and was to provide $405.5 million in permanent-loan financing for a Woodfin Suites brand expansion. Press reports of the company’s plans projected 60 new properties in five years. Nine months later, Samuel A. Hardage and related plaintiffs sued Nomura and related defendants for breach of contract and tortious interference, asking for $100 million in punitive damages. The court dismissed charges. Hardage agreed to a minimum payment of $27 million to the Nomura entity in 2000. Sixteen months later, Nomura sued Samuel Hardage, settling in 2002. Three months later, Hardage reportedly bought back the minority interest. Woodfin Suites had 15 hotels in 1998, and has 16 today. Read more details. Read case documents.
- after defaulting on loan payment. In January 2003, Hardage Hotels LLC failed to make an $850,000 mortgage payment, leading the lender to sell the mortgage at a loss of $6.3 million, impacting securitized mortgage investors such as Teachers Insurance. Hardage subsequently sued the $91 million loan’s special servicer CRIIMI MAE over a $73,000 property appraisal, seeking punitive damages, and lost the case on appeal after three years in court. Read more details. Read case documents.
- . In 2006, a Hardage-owned and managed 202 room Woodfin Suites sued the City of Emeryville over a municipal labor standards ordinance and had its preliminary injunction denied. It then dismissed its case. Woodfin filed a similar suit in 2007 which the Court dismissed. Woodfin is being sued by employees in California court for its refusal to comply with this ordinance. The hotel is in violation of its conditional operating permit until it pays over $300,000, including employee back wages and fees and fines owed the City under the ordinance. Read Woodfin Federal Case ruling, City Manager finding and a community blog on the dispute.
View a detailed history of this litigation, or download in PDF format.  Read Case Documents.
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