LOS ANGELES,– The $98,000,000.00 million lawsuit filed earlier in the year against bank behemoth Wells Fargo Bank and its affiliates, alleging bad faith and unlawful schemes to violate contractual obligations, rages on as Wells and its co-defendants attempt to squash plaintiff Garland Connect’s First Amendment rights.
“In exchange for procedural concessions, Wells Fargo proposed that Garland Connect cease and desist all media contact and press releases. In addition, defendant Rising Realty, whom Wells Fargo conspired with to implement the unlawful scheme, has been caught attempting to contract directly with Garland Connect customers,” says Michael Jaurigue of Jaurigue Law Group (JLG), who filed the suit.
The initial complaint alleges that Wells Fargo was motivated by greed and acted with malicious intent when it began marketing the sale of Downtown Los Angeles’ prestigious Garland Center in an attempt to oust Garland Connect, which contends it has two five-year options to stay on as the Garland Center’s telecommunications Meet-Me-Room (“MMR”) operator.
According to the complaint, Wells Fargo solicited buyers and required as a condition of acceptance of an offer that the buyer agree to participate in and implement a scheme to usurp Garland Connect’s valuable MMR contracts. Built in 1983, the Garland Center is one of the largest mixed-use office and telecommunications buildings in the greater Los Angeles area with approximately 726,000 rentable square feet.
According to the complaint, Wells Fargo backchanneled $2,000,000.00 to its co-conspirators, Rising Realty and HRRP, the company formed to purchase the Garland Center, for costs incurred in HRRP’s efforts to terminate Garland Connect’s MMR Agreement. HRRP attempted to terminate the Operating Agreement through an arbitration proceeding based on false allegations that Garland Connect was charging above market rates. Garland Connect prevailed in the proceeding and the arbitrator found that Wells Fargo, et al had resolved to terminate Garland Connect’s Operating Agreement and replace it with a new MMR vendor even before the purchase of the building was completed.
The case is Garland Connect, LLC v. Wells Fargo Bank, et.al. Garland Connect is represented by Jaurigue Law Group (JLG), a Glendale and San Francisco-based law firm with extensive experience in prosecuting bad faith claims and real estate transaction litigation.