An article by Dan Burley, originally posted on islandpacket.com. It reads...
Another Hilton Head Island timeshare company has come under fire.
Two North Carolina residents filed a federal class-action lawsuit Friday against Spinnaker Resorts.
The lawsuit alleges the company broke the law by not registering with the state to sell timeshares at Bluewater by Spinnaker -- its resort on Squire Pope Road -- until September 2014. Before that time, the company "knowingly sold unregistered timeshares to the general public," the suit says.
The company has not responded to the lawsuit. Attempts Tuesday to reach representatives from Spinnaker were unsuccessful.
Legal experts say the case could devastate the company since state law allows timeshare owners who bought from an unregistered company to cancel contracts, according to the lawsuit and the S.C. Timeshare Act.
"If owners can reverse most of the sales before that time, I'm sure this company would be seeking Chapter 11 relief," said Mike Finn, a Largo, Fla., attorney whose firm specializes in timeshare law.
It was not known Tuesday how many owners bought timeshares before Spinnaker registered Bluewater. The company started building the 86-unit complex on the banks of Skull Creek in 2005.
It registered Bluewater on Sept. 2, 2014, according to a copy of the registration included in the lawsuit. Spinnaker also runs Waterside, Southwind, Egret Point and Carolina Club on Hilton Head, as well as resorts in Florida and Missouri.
The lawsuit was filed by Mark and Paula Fullbright, who bought a $26,000 timeshare at Bluewater in June 2014, according to court records.
After buying, the Fullbrights found out the company was not registered to sell Bluewater timeshares.
"My clients filed a federal lawsuit ... To void the timeshare contract and obtain a full refund of all monies paid under the contract," Joseph DuBois, a Hilton Head attorney representing the couple, said in a statement. The lawsuit asks that other owners who bought before September 2014 have the option to receive the same refund.
DuBois and his law partner, Zach Naert, are known for their lawsuits against another island timeshare company, Coral Resorts.
The pair are locked in more than 60 state and federal lawsuits with the company on behalf of timeshare owners.
Last summer, a transcript of a hearing Coral Resorts had before the state Real Estate Commission was obtained by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette.
The transcript shows Coral Resorts did not pay annual fees required by the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The lapsed payments led to questions about whether registrations of the company's four timeshares remained intact during the years fees weren't paid, according to records. The commission eventually allowed the company to pay the missed payments.
The state requires timeshare companies to register with the Real Estate Commission in part to protect consumers, said Labor, Licensing and Regulation spokeswoman Lesia Kudelkacq. Some consumer-protection tools include a five-day right of cancellation and the right to basic information about the company, including the name of the developer, she said in an email.
Finn, the Florida timeshare attorney, said such registrations are "the only protection a consumer has."
"It gives the public of picture of what they want to sell you," he said.
For a company to go unregistered for nine years, "I don't see how you could do that."
"It could decimate the resort."
source: here
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