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StumbleGolf course, charity at odds over fundraising tournament
Thursday, July 15, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Map of Dragon Ridge Golf Course
Dragon Ridge Golf Course
552 S. Stephanie St., Henderson
Has a Nevada golf course been trying to intimidate the charitable foundation of 6-foot 9-inch, 345-pound football player Jonathan Ogden?
As unlikely as it may seem, that’s an issue emerging in a lawsuit pitting the Dragon Ridge Golf Club Inc. of Henderson against the foundation of Ogden, the retired Baltimore Ravens 11-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle.
Dragon Ridge filed suit against the Jonathan Ogden Foundation on June 4 in
Clark County District Court in Las Vegas claiming the foundation has failed to pay $13,226 in expenses from a June 2006 fundraising tournament.
Ogden’s foundation fired back last week, saying in a court response that all expenses for the tournament were paid the day of the event with cash and asserting numerous counterclaims.
The counterclaims include abuse of process, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, conversion, defamation, intentional misrepresentation, negligence, invasion of privacy and casting the foundation in a false light.
Eric Dobberstein, attorney for the foundation, charged in the answer and counterclaim that after settling the tournament account on the day of the event, no one from Dragon Ridge ever advised the foundation that money was still due.
“Despite Mr. Ogden and several of the foundation’s staff having several conversations with Dragon Ridge’s staff and playing several rounds of golf at the facility, no subsequent invoice was ever presented to Mr. Ogden or the foundation staff nor was the allegedly unpaid invoice ever mentioned or discussed,” the answer says. “The foundation was never made aware of an alleged unpaid invoice until years later when contacted by a debt collector retained by Dragon Ridge to collect on the already-paid debt.”
“Dragon Ridge filed its complaint in an effort to bring public ridicule on Mr. Ogden and the foundation so that the foundation, in an effort to avoid bad publicity, would be forced to settle Dragon Ridge’s frivolous claim,” the response says. “Dragon Ridge has publicly disseminated knowingly false statements regarding the foundation in an effort to embarrass and/or intimidate the foundation into paying an invoice for which it already paid.”
The golf course, represented by attorneys with the Las Vegas law firm of
Kemp, Jones & Coulthard LLP, hasn’t yet responded to the counterclaim. The golf course says some 95 people attended the tournament at issue, the Fifth Annual Jonathan Ogden Golf Tournament, each paying $300 to $400 to participate in the fundraiser.
Ogden lives in Henderson. His foundation, launched in 1996, says it has helped hundreds of young people in disadvantaged communities such as inner-city Baltimore through athletic and education programs.
The foundation says it has assisted more than 400 young people with programs promoting education through athletics.
But its response to the lawsuit said it had to retain legal counsel when “Dragon Ridge’s retained debt collector made unfounded and spurious allegations regarding the charitable nature of the foundation.”
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they should of asked for a receipt...
They paid the $13,000 in cash? Hopefully they did not give it to the bag boy at the end of the round. Perhaps he just thought they were good tippers.
A copy of the bill and a receipt will clear this whole thing up.
If Dragon Ridge can not counterclaim after that they should be making a very large donation to the charity for their public actions.
If there is no receipt, they the charity best pay up and state publicly that they messed up.
A big court case should not be needed here. Seems pretty cut and dry with a statement of proof and facts.
Not so cut and dry. Of course the golf course will produce an invoice. I could produce an invoice with any date for any amount of money in five minutes. Then the debate becomes about whether or not the customer ever received the invoice.
Seems hard to believe that a large debt would be settled with cash and no receipt, as the foundation claims.
Who pays THAT bill with cash? It's a write-off for the foundation. How do you not pay with a check? Ridiculous
I wholeheartedly approve of Mr. Ogden taking steps to help his fans in the city of Baltimore who have contributed to his success. That said, he might be wise to pay attention to his current city of residence, too.