Former Eagle Creek lessee sues state

DECATUR The onetime lessee of the Eagle Creek Resort at Lake Shelbyville has filed a three-count lawsuit against the state of Illinois, and is seeking $100,000.

The rules of the Illinois Court of Claims where the three-count suit was filed by Michael Ballinger of Decatur, president of BMDD Resorts cap most claims against the state at $100,000.

Four years ago this month, Ballinger was awarded the lease to take over the resort complex near Findlay, about 70 miles southwest of Champaign-Urbana.

The latest suit continues a mostly legal odyssey that began five years ago this month, when a judge shut down the mold-infested conference center and 138-room lodge.

A year later, on July 7, 2010, the state Department of Natural Resources formally awarded to BMDD a 21-year lease to operate the lodge, conference center and golf course. The 18-hole golf course reopened almost immediately but none of the other facilities has opened for business.

And four months ago, BMDD sent a letter of termination to the DNR after the agency and state and local officials had indicated their displeasure with the lack of progress on reopening the resort. In the meantime, the golf course remains open, although it has another operator, and the remainder of the 27-year-old complex is still shuttered.

In his lawsuit, filed last month by Decatur attorney Mark Morthland, Ballinger made three claims against the DNR.

First was that the state committed fraud by refusing to disclose to potential leaseholders that in addition to the mold problem, Eagle Creek also had a defective sewage system.

"The plaintiff was informed, after execution of the Lease, that the Defendants contracted to have the raw sewage removed from the Resort on a nightly basis. The sewer system that was in place was unable to pump the raw sewage," the suit says. "On or about one year after the execution of the Lease a representative of the (DNR) informed the plaintiff that the entire sewer system needed to be replaced at a cost of nearly $1 million, however they did not intend to correct or replace the sewer system."

BMDD said it had invested $3.1 million over the last four years for improvements to the golf course, plus mold remediation and architectural and engineering costs.

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Former Eagle Creek lessee sues state