Gene Haas may still be celebrating his team’s 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, but he could soon have to temper the party as he may be forced to head to a South Florida courtroom.
Haas, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing with 2011 NASCAR champion driver Tony Stewart, is being sued by two brother s in Miami-Dade County over a failed real estate deal.
According to a report in the Miami Herald, the trouble began in November right before the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway after an auction of two mansions in South Florida. The brothers selling the properties, Robert and Steven Fox, took the unusual step of auctioning off their beachfront mansions to the highest bidder. The rules of the auction stated that anyone interested in bidding on the properties had to put a refundable deposit in escrow of $500,000 for each home.
Through a proxy, Haas won the auction for not just one, but both homes with a winning bid of $12.4 million.
The Fox brothers however, claim that’s as far as the sale as gone and Haas or his representatives have yet to finish the deal and according to the bothers have given no indication that they will.
Under the terms of the auction, Haas has thus forfeited his deposit of $1 million say the brothers. The company handling the escrow though, can’t release the forfeited deposit without a declaration from Haas, something according to the brother’s attorney that Haas refuses to do. The Fox brothers have now taken the matter to court.
The properties were eventually sold to other bidders but according to the brothers the bids were less than they would have been had the original auction gone through.
Representatives for Haas did not return phone calls and a spokesperson at Haas Automation refused to comment.
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