Cowboys seek $42 million from suite holder

[CRUSHER]

Welcome to UnderTheArches george.mikal! We are glad to have you.
As far as giving your opinion on the topic, feel free to speak what's on your mind. As long as it is civil and respectful. That's what this forum is for.

[Lisabeth]

The Fort Worth Paper printed a follow up story with one suite owner's side:

Cowboys Stadium suite leasers sue team, alleging misleading sales tactics
Posted Friday, Apr. 23, 2010 Comments (9) Recommend (3) Print Share Buzz up!Reprints
BY SANDRA BAKER
sabaker@star-telegram.com
A Dallas company says sales staff at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington used "misleading" tactics and gave "false" information to lease it a luxury suite, accusing them of going as far as claiming that it was the last one left.
Architel Holdings and its founder, Alexander Muse, leased a suite but never used it, and refused to make a $240,000 first-year lease payment because of what they call deceptive sales practices.
Muse and Architel, an information technology outsourcing company, made the allegations in a countersuit filed Friday in state district court in Tarrant County.
"My clients' experience makes clear that Cowboys sales personnel will say just about anything to make a buck," said Bill Garrison, a Dallas attorney representing Muse and Architel. He declined to comment further.
Muse and his company are defendants in a lawsuit the Dallas Cowboys filed this year, and is one of more than a dozen such actions filed to recover money from individuals and companies who stopped making lease payments on suites in the $1.2 billion arena.
The stadium ended up leasing the Architel-Muse suite for the 2009 football season, according to the countersuit, but is still seeking payment on the 20-year lease.
Levi McCathern, the attorney representing the stadium, called the counterclaim a case of buyer's remorse.
"It's disappointing people try to get out of their contracts like this," McCathern said. "They're big boys. The contract is clear. They knew exactly what they were signing."
According to the suit, Muse and a business associate, Scott Ryan, toured the site in July 2008 with a stadium representative, who steered them to Field Suite 26. The filing quoted the leasing agent as repeatedly saying it was the last available suite in the stadium.
The men did not sign a lease that day. They told the agent they couldn't afford it on their own but would let her know if others joined them in the arrangement, the suit says. At that time, the agent said she could help them find other investors, because there were several people in the same position.
The stadium representative later showed up at their office and "declared that it was imperative" that they sign, the suit says.
The agent, "promised that, worst case, Muse and Ryan would be 'only out the deposit of $24,000,'" the suit says.
Some time later, the men found two other investors and signed the lease. At no time did the sales staff "funnel" others to them as promised, the suit says.
But after Muse and Ryan introduced the additional investors, the sales staff went behind their backs to get the new pair to sign a separate deal, the suit says. As a result, Muse and Ryan never took possession of the suite and demanded a refund.
"When Cowboys Stadium was completed, and without anyone from Architel Holdings ever having set food in Field Suite 26, [the sales staff] caused the suite to be occupied by other parties for the 2009 NFL football season and events at Cowboys Stadium," the suit says.
The sales staff, the suit goes on, "engaged in false, misleading, deceptive and unconscionable conduct in soliciting and selling goods and services," to Muse and Ryan.
SANDRA BAKER, 817-390-7727


Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/04...#ixzz0m2dfSfje

[usafvet]

There are A LOT of club PSLs for sale. I suppose club seats didn't earn as much as some had hoped (in regard to ticket resales). That, and with our struggling economy, I can see why a club seat owner would hope to sell their PSLs.