Angry investors form group to go after Orcutt

Thursday, April 6, 2006 | 6:49 a.m.

Investors in a now-dissolved company that built dozens of cabins at Mount Charleston are preparing to take a Las Vegas businesswoman to court to try to recoup some of their money.

Leanne Njus, one of more than 500 investors in the company that built the cabins at Mount Charleston, said she and others are contributing to a legal fund. Kirk Lenhard, an attorney with high-powered law firm Jones Vargas, is working with the group.

More than 50 people have agreed to contribute so far, and no one contacted has declined to participate.

Investors, most of whom are retired and many of whom are on fixed or limited incomes, bought $1,000 shares from Barbara Orcutt in the mid-1990s. Most investors bought just a few shares, but collectively they raised $2 million for the project. The only return on their investment, numerous shareholders have said, was one check about five years ago - which bounced.

Neither Orcutt nor her representatives returned phone calls Wednesday. An employee at the Mount Charleston Lodge, which is owned and operated by Orcutt, said the businesswoman is recuperating from a recent car accident.

Orcutt said last month that checks would go out to investors by the end of March with money from the 2003 sale of the two dozen cabins. Njus and a half-dozen other investors said they had not received either checks or promises of checks.

Orcutt made the same promise in 2004, when she told investors in a letter that they would recoup some unspecified portion of their investment with proceeds from the sale of the cabins and dissolution of the company.

The two dozen cabins were sold for as much as $350,000 each, and should have provided millions to repay debts.

Njus is a former board member of the now-dissolved company that built the rental cabins, which Orcutt continues to operate. Njus said she still hopes a government agency will look at the accounting of the cabin deal and Orcutt's other projects in the Mount Charleston area.

Njus and other investors had an envelope-stuffing party Wednesday night to send letters to other shareholders.

"We should be hearing back from interested shareholders by the first part of next week," Njus said.

She said investors are trying to do "grunt work," such as contacting all shareholders, to save legal costs.

Because many of the investors are on fixed or limited incomes, shareholders who want to participate in the lawsuit can contribute $100 to $5,000, Njus said. At least one person has pledged $5,000, she said.

Investors contacted Wednesday said they would participate. Among those was Larry Smith, who with his wife, Bibi, invested $1,000 in 1994. The couple now live an hour outside of Missoula, Mont., on a fixed income.

"We're just making it, that's about all," Smith said. "We put in what we could at the time. We did this in good faith that we'd get something back. All we got is that one check for $24. It bounced."

Patricia Gimble, who with her husband, George, works part time in supermarkets to make ends meet, bought five shares - $5,000 worth - of the project. She said she'd like to see where their money went.

"Our income is limited, but we could spare a hundred or $200 if we had some hope of getting anything back," she said.

Pat Langevin, a retired nurse-anesthetist, put $1,000 into the project with her late husband, Robert. She said she would join the lawsuit because the entire episode "sticks in my craw."

"It's not the money at all, it's the fact that we could never find out what was happening," she said. "I will be happy to join the lawsuit."