ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A St. Johns County custom homebuilder accused of abandoning his projects in Nocatee did not appear in court Monday to face some of the homeowners he’s accused of stealing from.
Nine of them are suing the President of Pineapple Corporation, Spencer Calvert.
Calvert was arrested in February and accused of misappropriating over $15 million. He was charged with embezzling construction funds, grand larceny, and organized scheme to defraud.
Monday’s hearing was not focused on Calvert’s criminal charges, but his requests for the personal lawsuits against him to be handled in arbitration.
Calvert was subpoenaed by the opposing counsel to be in court Monday, but he didn’t show. News4JAX approached Calvert’s lawyer after court to ask why he wasn’t here, but he had no comment.
After hearing arguments from both parties, the judge ultimately said he needed more time to decide on whether or not these cases will go to arbitration.
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More than a dozen hopeful homebuyers had big plans to relocate their families to Florida and build custom dream homes in a Nocatee neighborhood.
Lisa Sparta was one of these homebuyers.
“It was our dream to come to Florida and it’s just been a bit of a nightmare,” Sparta said.
But their homebuilder – The Pineapple Corporation – abandoned them.
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Captain Sandy Yawn, the star of a popular reality TV show, was one of the homeowners left behind.
“It’s been over a year since it’s been touched…we just want our house finished. But more importantly, the person that took our money, I just want to know where our money is,” Yawn said.
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According to investigators, Calvert failed to pay subcontractors and that caused more than $900,000 in liens to be filed against abandoned homeowners.
“Some of you may be going well where is the money? Well, that’s part of our investigation, and you can rest assured that we’re gonna get to the bottom,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said.
While the state is pursuing criminal charges against Calvert, nine victims have filed suit against Calvert personally to try and recoup some of the money they lost.
James Gonzales is the attorney representing those nine homeowners in court. He explained that instead of a jury trial, Calvert and his attorney want to settle the cases in arbitration – which is standard for construction claims.
“Obviously, our goal is to recover as much of the money that was lost from our homeowners as possible,” Gonzales said.
All Pineapple Corporation contracts included an arbitration clause in the event of a dispute between the homebuilder and the homeowner. But there are provisions in the contract Calvert did not honor himself, namely, “that construction would be completed by the end of 2023.″
The attorney for the homeowners suing Calvert had lots of questions Monday about what happened to the money they paid to the Pineapple Corporation.
There was no indication from the judge on whether or not he would be holding Calvert in contempt of court for not showing up to his hearing on Monday. Another motion could be filed by the opposing counsel requesting that.
The judge will make a decision on the arbitration motion without another hearing but it’s unknown when that decision will be made.