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Recent Litigation Messages from Rowie
| Jul 4 |
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Aug 1
| Aug 1 |
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Auto Rental
| Feb 23 |
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Atrium Weeks For Sale
| Feb 22 |
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Atrium Weeks For Rent
| Feb 22 |
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from "Timesharing In St. Maarten" - Editorial by Jeff Berger
| Feb 4 |
Atrium Owners Distribution Sheet.doc
| Jan 17 |
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Veen letter 01-11-07.doc
| Jan 13 |
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Restaurants - Winners & Losers
| Dec 19 |
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Airfare and Airline News
| Dec 19 |
On March 8 Monique Hofman filed another injunction in the Sint Maarten
court representing 170 additional Atrium owners. To date Festiva/Atrium
resorts has not responded to Hofman's letter of February requesting the
additional 170 litigants be covered under the same agreement made in January
with the original 130 Atrium litigants. Attorney Hofman has requested with
the court that additional litigants may be added to the injunction from time to
time. We now represent over 500 unit weeks.
On March 10 four Atrium owners met with six Festiva representatives in
Asheville North Carolina to discuss forming an advisory owners
board. Present from Festiva were Don Clayton, CEO, Butch Patrick,
President,
3 other VP's, one an attorney and the Director of the
Caribbean operations. Quite a group of powerful, educated Timeshare
representatives, they represented many years in the Timeshare
business.
Of the four Atrium owners two were litigants. We were given a full
report and the meeting raised many more questions than were answered. In a
letter by Butch Patrick sent to all Atrium owners he stated that because of the
ongoing litigation in SXM Festiva Resorts would place all monies in dispute in a
segregated escrow account.
Copy of Portion of Letter from Butch Patrick President of Festiva
Resorts:
As you are probably aware, a small minority of Atrium members filed
for
>an injunction against Pelican Resort Atrium, N.V., in order to limit the >maintenance fee increase to 4% and eliminate the special assessment. >The basis for their injunction request was disputed interpretation of >certain provisions of their original signed contract. Prior to the >injunction date, Festiva Resorts attempted (see enclosures) to establish >a dialogue with two of the represented members in the belief that full >financial and operating disclosure would precipitate a compromise that >everyone would be pleased with. Neither of the gentlemen accepted our >invitation to visit our corporate headquarters to discuss a solution, so >the discussions ceased. > >Since direct discussion was not going to resolve the impasse, we >instructed Atrium’s legal counsel to offer arbitration (see enclosure), >which would allow for a quick resolution and limit the legal expenses >for both sides. Again, the represented owners decided not to accept, >and instead insisted on a potentially lengthy and expensive court >action. > >Based on the above actions, we had no other avenue but to accept the >strategy proposed by the Atrium’s attorney which is to file a lawsuit >against the represented owners. His filing with the court will use >Netherlands Antilles statutory and case law to declare the existing >contracts amended to meet changed financial and operational >circumstances. He indicated to opposing counsel that we would suspend >collection of the special assessment and part of the maintenance fee >increase against the represented owners until the court makes a ruling. >Unfortunately, you as a member will be paying for this needless and >totally avoidable action which will cost everyone an untold amount of >money. Until this is resolved, all special assessment funds and the >additional 6% in maintenance fees collected will be placed in a >segregated escrow account. From this meeting documents were provided to the Atrium owners. A copy of
the Balance in the escrow account is provided. Over $1,000,000 of the
$1,516,783 collected has gone to pay back the now large deficit of $827,000 plus
$167,000 for a TV/computer lease. Festiva Resorts bought the Atrium in
October 2005 for a reported sum of $3,000,000 excluding the Buccaneer Bar which
was built by the previous owner Simon Macauley in 2001/2002 and sold separately,
now reported to have sold again to developers for $3,000,000.
We are still looking to add litigants to be represented by Monique Hofman
in SXM. Please contact me via email at Rowiep@aol.com
Many owners have requested refunds of the SA monies overpaid and
Festiva/Atrium so far has not released any funds. Monique Hofman has
requested all monies overpaid be returned.
Please note in the attached documents or any documents provided by
Festiva/Atrium resorts since November 2006 is any amount listed for an
increase in pay to the 55 employees of the Atrium. These 55 Atrium workers
are now in mediation with Festiva/Atrium over pay and benefits
increases. Festiva/Atrium responded in March that these employees would
have to maintain their current status for the next three years. The new
union has appealed to the SXM government labor agency to intervene.
Also Gillian Spronk the manager of the Atrium for the past 10 years will be
leaving the Atrium at the end of the month. Gillian and her family will
move to Grenada to be with additional family that lives there. All
the owners would like to thank Gillian for a Great 10 years and she will be
missed.
Rowie Percoco
The Gas appliances/stoves were replaced by the previous owner in
2004/2005 The generator cost has gone from $80,000 to $194,000.
There is no Fire alarm system. Over 150 AC units were replaced in
2005. All this is documented in the Newsletters provided by the Atrium
over the years. Only $9,500 is budgeted for actual improvements at the
Atrium. Friday, February 16, 2007 Owners,
As your owner representative I talked to Attorney Hofman this PM and
Festiva attorney Veen has not answered the letter sent last Monday. Hofman
did talk to Veen Wednesday and he says the response will come by Tuesday of next
week. Hofman will file the injunction for the new litigants if the
response is not what we expect.
Many of you have received the latest letter package from Festiva with an
explanation to the owners that a injunction has been filed and notification that
all monies collected above the contractual amounts are now going into an escrow
account.
It looks as if no refunds by Festiva will be made to owners that have
overpaid at this time.
In addition Festiva makes a statement that they are "reviewing the
inaccurate and defamatory statements continuously directed at Festiva Resorts by
a certain Atrium member" and "may pursue all legal remedies
available and to pursue real and potential damages to our business reputation
and finances".
Again Festiva tries to work with intimidation, as they did to intimidate
many of you into paying the illegal assessment charges and increase in
fees. Their own attorney Veen agreed these fees above the contractual
amounts were in error and Festiva/Atrium will now have to go to court to change
our lease agreements to implement the above mentioned charges.
We urge all the new owners on our email list and litigants to file a
complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General. Attached is the web
page to reach the complaint forms. The NC AG is still working on this
matter.
We now have 276 litigants representing 453 unit weeks. Many new
litigants have come in from the Festiva mailing as my email was published by
Festiva.
Pat and I will travel to the Atrium Thursday for a stay of 3 weeks.
We have many litigants at the Atrium at this time and we will all get
together. It will be a tremendous three weeks. Some of
us will also meet with Monique Hofman.
Please access the owner website AtriumOwners.com This site is
for your use. Sign up to our Atrium Owners Google Group to chat.
Thanks again for everyone's support.
Rowie & Pat
***************************************************************************************************************************** Friday, January 26, 2007
Owners,
Attorney Hofman advised me today we have our agreement with Festiva/Atrium signed, sealed and delivered.
Note this only covers the listed litigants. Although we can continue to add litigants.
To date we now have 213 on the litigation list.
Next week our Lawyer will petition the courts to cover all present and future litigants and then petition to cover all Atrium owners. So please keep new people coming.
We asked about the litigants that paid partial or all of the assessment. She advised that they request the return of the overpayments to Festiva and return of those funds. I personally would write Festiva requesting your monies be returned and state were paid under duress. It will be up to Festiva to return your money. Whether or not they do return it will be up to them. Attorney Hofman said that the money was collected illegally. This will be another issue we will take up in court if necessary.
In the signed letter by Veen on Wednesday Festiva has stated that they are going to continue with a court case to change our contracts to suit their needs. We and other owners find this absurd. But, again we must not allow this to happen. We will not sit by and let it happen without a fight.
On a different note. We are forwarding you an email address's from Today Newspaper and The Herald. If you have any comments about the situation you can send it to them. Donna Parrish is dealing with the Herald and we with Today.
Our next goal is to form an Atrium Owners Association with bylaws that have control of the maintenance fees and management company. As Simon has stated in past newsletters "The fees collected are our money" we should have a say in how they are utilized.
lawrenzi@hotmail.com Geno Lawrenzi Today
John van Kerkhof {The Daily Herald} johnv@thedailyherald.com
Every one have a very very happy weekend.
Rowie & Pat
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Owners,
Our excellent Attorneys in Sint Maarten have given us a victory. Email today from Monique Hofman states that Festiva's attorney Veen has decided our contracts are valid as they are written and Festiva has to live up to the terms and conditions as set forth. All litigants are protected from the increase in maintenance fees above the NA CPI and no assessment is due. This only applies to litigants, we can add litigants to the list at any time.
Mr. Veen goes on to state that he will start a main procedure at the Court to request the judge declare the current contents of the lease are unreasonable and that charges for unseen maintenance costs would be possible. This action our attorney feels will not be successful in the courts.
Copies of the emails attached. Please note the request by Veen that the emails not be published on any web site. This information is for the litigants. If you are not a litigant please contact me immediately to join the group. Only the listed litigants are protected.
Attorney Hofman also states in another email that Artium/Festiva is agreeing to the petition in the injunction and they will not proceed with a SA or increase in fees above the contractual amount. They are not contesting our claim and the court will not proceed. The injunction will be placed on hold for an indefinite period of time, it will not be retracted.
This is very good news for the litigants but indecisive for the other Atrium owners who have paid the increase and SA. Our new goal should be to contact as many owners as we can and get them on the litigation list. If everyone would go to the forums and timeshare web sites and let everyone know what is going on we can add thousands to this list.
I know many of you will have a lot of questions. Please email me with them. This is still not over but we are much closer to the finish.
Thanks again for all your support, we have 199 owners on the litigation list and keep adding daily. The funds collected are over $11,000.
Rowie & Pat
Friday, January 18
Owners,
We still have a few days before attorney Monique Hofman has to turn in the updated list of litigants to the court for the hearing on Friday the 26th. The deadline is Tuesday. I'm sending out the current list, if your name is not on the list and you still wish to be part of the litigation please email me immediately.
The NC AG is still working on the case here in the US. I have no further information other than they have not received the documents from Festiva they requested as of last week. If you have not filed a complaint with the NC AG please do so now.
Dave Yezback and Joe Parvin will be at the Atrium next week and will represent the group at the hearing.
Thanks for all your support, we've grown to 191 litigants and the collections to date are $9820.
Rowie & Pat
[The List}
**********************************************************
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Owners,
Some of you are still having problems with Festiva requesting the assessment and increase in fees. Attached is the letter from Atrium Attorney Veen to our Attorney Hofman. This letter has been sent to Festiva's attorney Weas and Gillian at the Atrium has received a copy. At this time everyone is protected by the court proceedings. Only the usual maintenance fee is required, meaning the 2006 fee plus the 4% recommended by our attorney as per our agreement with the Atrium. This is due postmarked by January 15 and late on January 31 as per Festiva. NO ONE IS BEING LOCKED OUT.
If anyone still has a question or is harassed by Festiva please notify me.
Rowie & Pat
To see the Veen letter, click on navigation header "Files" and then on "Veen letter".
**************************************
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Dear Owners, I know everyone is wondering what is going on. Just a note to get everyone up to date.
Some background information. Rik Bergman was notified by Festiva's US attorney Weas that his office represented Festiva in another matter. Another attorney in Bergman's office is working on a suit for Atrium which is now on appeal. Rik was unaware of this transaction.
As Rik Bergman is the Dean of Lawyers on SXM he felt it in our best interest and his to recuse himself and pass our litigation on to another firm. We are now represented in SXM by Monique Hofman of Bermon Law Office & Legislative Services. All files, our retainer and the lawsuit has passed on to Hofman. Nothing has changed in our representation.
Remember Atrium/Festiva spent over $60,000 of our maintenance fees on attorneys last year. It is in the expense sheet provided by Festiva to us. Looks like they may have had a master plan. There is a limited number of attorneys on SXM and all a company has to do is retain most of them for meaningless work to eliminate them from being available for litigation. Of course this is not a known fact, just a suspicious observation, since the same thing happened when we tried to hire Attorney Jelmer Snow.
On Tuesday, after my conversation with Bergman about our new attorney, Butch Patrick emailed me to inform me that Bergman no longer represented us and that their attorney J Veen had presented a letter to Bergman asking to go to arbitration. Again Festiva makes no sense. If they knew Bergman was off the case why would they go to Bergman with such a letter??
Anyway, I forwarded the letter to Monique and she contacted attorney Veen on Wednesday. As per Monique's and my agreement we proposed to Veen we would only delay the hearing, requested by Festiva, if Festiva would agree to our terms, That no owner would be locked out for non payment of the assessment or increase in maintenance fees. Festiva agreed to these terms, we have the letter from Veen to Hofman. Until the decision is rendered in the injunction we do not have to pay the assessment or increase in fees. Please note the regular maintenance fees have to be paid on time.
We felt Festiva might get the delay anyway, so we at least got them not to lock out owners.
The delay should be about two weeks from Friday as this is when the same judge that will hear the case Friday will return to court. Again this is just the first step. We are still going to court, because we
must protect our lease and the terms and conditions of the contracts we signed.
The strength is in our numbers that continue to grow. We now have 185 owners that have requested participation in the litigation. We represent almost 10% of the units owned.
Rowie & Pat ********************************************************************************************************************** Thursday, January 11, 2007 Owners, First thank you to all who emailed me their request over the last two days. I know it has been a pain.
Great news today. Festiva has made a major concession today: "They are willing to change the deadlines in the sense that no actions will be taken against owners who did not pay the special assessment, as long as the case is pending in the Court."
Our attorney Monique Hofman notified me of this agreement this PM.
I will follow up with a more detailed email later as to why we have a new attorney and what has transpired these past few weeks. Everyone can breathe a little at this point. It is not over yet but we have made major progress.
Copy of Monique's letter:
Goodafternoon Rowie,
Thank you for the updated lists, they are very usefull in the case, since I know that Atrium will try to make a point that not all owners mentioned in the petition agree to the litigation.
I have spoken at length with mr Veen yesterday afternoon and this morning. They are willing to change the deadlines in the sense that no actions will be taken against owners who did not pay the special assessment, as long as the case is pending in the Court. He will confirm this in writing this afternoon. Ofcourse the regular maintenance fees have to be paid as usual.
Seeing this, a postponement will very likely be awarded, as we agreed under aforementioned condition.
In the meantime the legal counsel in the US is preparing a budget and specification for your review regarding the assessment.
I did not receive a Fedex package as yet, this will very likely be delivered later this afternoon.
I will keep you informed,
Kind regards,
Monique Hofman Monique did receive the Fedx package, it contained all the emails previously sent by you to me regarding your participation in the suit.
Thanks for all of your support.
Rowie & Pat ********************************************************************************************************************* Monday, January 8, 2007 Owners, This is a copy of an email from Harvey Lipman to his group of Canadian owners who joined the litigation last week. Harvey has communicated with Festiva's representatives over the past two months and has received unsatisfactory answers to most of his questions and suggestions on how to mediate this situation. As you can see in the attached email his meeting with the Festiva VP of Caribbean Operations, Everet Mak, ended with the same results. Harvey has consented to allow all of you to read this email. Remember the $100,000 loss Harvey refers to in the email includes the $10,700 per month Management fee Festiva takes. This also includes the 5 months of electricity provided by Glebe and when the generator came back on line the power bill was cut by two thirds. If you do some basic math you will come up with the conclusion that the Atrium does make a profit every year as stated by Simon. I've also received information that the generator was repaired not replaced.
Rowie
Hi Just returned from St Maarten and have had 3 meetings there. First was with Gillian, second with the lawyer, Rick Bergman and Rowie Percoco who heads up the US Group of owners and the 3rd with Everett Mak the VP of Festiva for the Caribbean. Each meeting was approx 1 1/2 to 2 hours long and quite in depth. For brevity purposes I will outline just the highlights of each meeting for your benefit. It is important to note that I have joined a number of you to the litigation group as it is absolutely necessary due to the fact that I have been unable to negotiate with Festiva and as a result of their threats and conduct felt it necessary to do so. Please note that I have joined everyone except for the Oshers and Weinnigers but recommend that they do so by either advising me or Rowie Percoco directly. I will provide you with the information to fund the law suit at the end of this email so please read it and once you have done so confirm to me that your information and payment has been made. As a prelude the primary concerns are: 1. That our lease contracts are valid, enforceable and accepted as such by Festiva 2. That the Rules and Regulations written by Festiva are invalid and illegal with respect to our contracts and therefore Festiva has no legal grounds to enforce the Special Assessment and the increase of 10% on annual maintenance. As you recall our contracts restrict the increase of annual maintenance to the Consumer Price Index of the Netherland Antilles. 3. That we want the building fixed up and do not object to putting in funds by way of a Special Assessment but the funds must be in an account that is a segregated trust account and the funds not comingled with regular monies so that they vest with the owners in the event that Festiva does not do the upgrades, sells the property or goes bankrupt. There must be full accountability and the money should go in over a period of time commensurate with the renovations being performed. 4. There are other issues such as how the money will be spent, on what, and operating budgets that I will not go into at this time as it is really the first 3 items that we must overcome first. The first meeting was with Gillian Spronk, General Manager of Atrium. It was attended with Martin Rosenbusch, Brian Novak and myself. Gillian is extremely distubed by Festiva's conduct and lack of information flowing through to her. No account has been set up by Festiva to deposit the Special Assessment ("SA") monies into yet and all monies collected to date have been sent to North Carolina. There is no internet at the Atrium for owners, large new TV's still in rooms with limited and not very good satellite coverage, all staff the same with one new man at front desk, no other improvements made to the Atrium. The staff feel they are caught in the middle of this mess. Gillian is definitely on the owners side and her position is in jeapardy from what I know. Throughout all meetings I have assured her and Festiva that she is absolutely critical to the owners and the Atrium. Gillian provided me with the internal financials for the 11 months ended Nov 2006 and there is an operating deficit to this date of approx $100,000. I have numerous questions and concerns of the financials but once again will not dwell on this now until the above 3 points have been dealt with to our satisfaction. I had invited Butch Patrick and or Don Clayton to come to the Atrium during the 2 weeks I was there to meet and they did not come down. Gillian also invited them to meet with me but they did not accept this offer. Gillian provided me with a copy of a letter dated Dec 22, 2006 as issued by Festiva Resorts which has been sent to all week one owners. This letter will then be sent to the subsequent week owners just prior to their ownership weeks. The letter states " Before we are able to confirm reservations for 2007, any remaining balance for either your maintenance fees or your special assessment fees must be paid in full or you must be set up on an approved monthly payment plan. The resort will not check in any guests who have an outstanding balance on their account." Gillian has stated that she will not enforce this even though Festiva has told her to do so unless she receives a letter from Festiva's lawyers stating this is legal. To date she has not received such a letter. We also reviewed an article that appeared on the front page of the Today newspaper with headlines "ATRIUM FACES INJUNCTION". Gillian was most disturbed by the comments in the article that I am sure you have all read by now. If you have not please advise me and I will send you a copy of the article. The article made statements by Festivas Debbie Shroyer that she says were lies. I clarified to Gillian that what the article quoted from Shroyer actually was true and this was in letters from Shroyer to various owners. She was shocked and was going to email Festiva for copies of Shroyers letters to various owners including myself. Festiva has told Gillian that over half the SA have been paid which would represent approx $2million dollars. Yet they have just in the last two weeks authorized her to set up a model suite at the cost of $17,000 and do the awning in the lobby for $20,000. Where is the rest of the money supposedly collected? Gillian has struggled for the last two months to get money from Fesiva to make the payroll in time. Gillian has not had a wage increase in 10 years. I told her to hang in and that I would recommend to Festiva that the SA account be set up in ST Maarten and she be a signatory on this account for all improvement payments to be made as we trusted her and not Festiva. Gillian has so far received 6 Quit claims from owners that wish to give up their units. This could be one of the objectives of Festiva to be able to consider us in default and resell the units. Festiva also needs accommodation for their Adventure plan. The second meeting was with lawyer Rick Bergman, Rowie Percoco, Martin Rosenbusch and myself. Bergman seems quite familiar with all issues and was actually disturbed by the article that was written up in Today. No one knows how the reporter got the information for the article. For an update on this meeting I am forwarding you a copy of Rowies email dated Jan 5, 2007. Martin , as a reminder please send Bergman a copy of the old Pelican contract. Bergman was suggesting that all annual maintenance be paid by Jan 15th and the excess over 4% paid into an escrow account along with the SA. We ultimately agreed that the SA should be paid into the escrow account yet to be set up by Rowie by no later than the last payment period agreed to by Festiva for owners to do so. Subsequent to this meeting I obtained a copy of a letter issued by Fesiva dated Nov 27, 2006 which states "Upon further review, we are comfortable allowing members to make their special assessment payments over a six month period beginning in December. For members owning three (3) weeks or more that would like to request additional time to pay the special assessment, please contact our owner services department for a personalized plan." We agreed that all owners should pay the annual maintenance with either 4% increase and 6% into an escrow account or with the 10% increase and in either case submitted with the letter of dispute previously discussed and provided to you. We will wait until the court case to determine if and when we should pay the SA into an escrow account. The third meeting was with Everet Mak,VP of Festiva Caribbean, Gillian Spronk, Joan May (internal accountant of Atrium), Martin Rosenbusch, Brian Novak and myself. In short, Mak ( not sure of his spelling) has been with Festiva for 2 years and he really did not have good clarity of his role. He certainly did not have many answers and was not truly aware of the uniqueness of the Atrium timeshare owners being different than most timeshare units. Most time share operations have approx 10-15% return annually of their owners as they swap and go elsewhere. At the Atrium, there is approx 85-90% return rate annually. Hence, the family type resort and the resistance that Festiva is seeing. The major points discussed were: Mak to get confirmation on the validity of our contracts, confirm that the Rules and Regulations written by Festiva do not apply to our contracts, a segregated account to be set up for SA (he stated that these monies will never go into an account in ST Maarten but only in North Carolina), he will undertake to provide us with a letter from Festiva's lawyer stating that such an account has been set up and the monies vest with the owners with a full accounting provided to us monthly, that Festiva is paying the SA on unsold units (which he says is 25% of 87 suites). He also undertook to confirm what whole owners such as Simon MacCauley are paying for SA and annual maintenance. Mak stated that those owners who purchased in 2006 are excempt from the SA. I asked that this be reconfirmed in writing as Festiva has taken the sale proceeds and the "old" owners or us are going to refurbish the units and building for these people. Just another example of the unilateral approach Festiva are taking. Mak stated that he did not know who was responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the beach which is disgusting and full of seaweed everyday. He undertook to clarify and rectify this matter. Mak undertook to provide a letter to those owners that filed quit claims and offer them extended time frames to pay the annual maintenance and SA . Mak provided me with a copy of the letter dated Nov 27th providing extended payment plans. I will forward a copy of this letter to Rick Bergman under separate cover. All in all, Mak did not have much clarity on the operations or ownership of the Atrium but said he would be having a conference call with Clayton and Patrick and get back to us in writing. I also suggested to him that even if we win the Court injunction, that it would be to validate our contracts and to determine that the Rules and Regulations are illegal. We still want the building fixed up and are prepared to pay for it as long as there is a segregated account for the funds preferably on the island with Gillian a signatory and full accountability and monies to be put in over a period of time commensurate with the work to be done. Also , that these funds would be put in without the acceptance of the Rules and Regulations being enforceable vis a vis our contracts to prevent them from having the authority to do so whenever they wish in the future. Mak was advised that Festiva should have put up the money in Jan 2006 to furnish a model suite and show it to all owners througout 2006 to excite them to "buy in" to the SA. Mak confirmed that half the SA has been collected but did not know how much money this was or why nothing had been spent to date for improvements. He basically had no answers on anything to do with the operations of the Atrium. LAWYERS FUND INFORMATION Please send $50US funds for each week/unit that you own to : Rowie Percoco 7138 Westmoreland Drive, Sarasota, Florida 34243 and make funds payable to Atrium Owners Fund. Please advise Rowie which units and weeks you own and in whose name your contract is in. Please copy me with confirmation of your payment being made and which weeks/units you own. For your information, our lawyer is: Rick Bergman Bergman Bloem & Bergman Brooks Tower, W.G. Buncamper Road Harbour View, P.O. Box 5015 Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, Netherlands, Antilles Tel 599 542-7549 fax 599 542-7551 email rbergman@bbblegal.com Regards, Harvey S. Lipman CA, CIRP PERRY KRIEGER & ASSOCIATES INC. 45 Vogell Road, Suite 300, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3P6 Telephone: 905-508-0080 416-447-7200 Facsimile: 905-508-0012 **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
January 5, 2007 Atrium Owners, On Thursday, Harvey Lipman, Marvin Rosenbusch and I met with Attorney Rik Bergman in Sint Maarten. Harvey leads a group of 15 Canadian owners that have now joined in the litigation. To date we have 164 Atrium owners in the litigation group and represent over 270 unit weeks.
Attorney Bergman was to meet with the Judge today and request a court hearing for next week. The Judge just returned from holiday. Harvey and Marvin brought into the meeting some additional information that enlightened Bergman on the operations of Festiva and Atrium. We discussed the payment of the Maintenance fee plus the CPI of 4% and withholding of the assessment and additional maintenance increase. Bergman still recommends only paying the Contractual required maintenance fee plus 4%. In all the documents he has reviewed there is no provision for any additional charges.
The same recommendations were made as before. We may set up an escrow account in the US, overseen by an attorney there. Bergman has requested documents published by Festiva stating that we may pay them on a monthly basis over the next year. This may be the way we set up the escrow account. Also discussed were the current conditions at the Atrium. Festiva is withholding funds they say they have received, the only items authorized for purchase are the new awning and furniture for the display room. No other improvements have been made at the resort.
It was also noted that Festiva is now sending letters to owners two to three weeks before your visit to notify you of the due payments. Festiva has published the due dates as January 1 and late on January 31. Please be aware the contract states you must have your Maintenance payment postmarked by January 15.
Bergman requests you follow the contract. Mail your payments with the letter prepared by him registered mail to the Asheville, NC address.
On another note, the Today newspaper, December 30, had a front page article with the Headline "ATRIUM FACES INJUNCTION" It describes the lawsuit by 140 Atrium owners and is very accurate as most of the information comes from our emails to and from Festiva. I will try to copy the article and post it when we return.
We still receive emails from new owners every day. Over 1000 unit weeks are owned by French citizens. That leaves 2400 unit weeks US and Canadian, we now have close to 300, a very high percentage almost 10%.
Next week when we return I will publish all the names of the litigants. If your name does not appear on the list please notify me if you want to join the litigation.
We are having a very nice cruise and SXM was very busy, we did spend most of the day in SXM with the grand kids at the beach. We have Internet in the cabin and have received many emails. Thanks again for all your support.
The next few weeks will be very interesting. We should have some results very soon.
Pat & Rowie
Dec. 21, 2006 Owners, A few owners have been contacted by Festiva and demands for payment of 1. Do not be intimidated by Festiva, the Case is before the Court and 2. Any owner that feels he has to pay the assessment pay "IN DISPUTE" 3. Pay your regular maintenance fee by the due date, January 15. Only 4. The litigant owners could set up an escrow account in the USA to Attorney Bergman has prepared a letter to be sent to Festiva with your On #4 setting up an escrow account here in the US by an attorney. This All the litigants are protected under the court filing. Bergman says We can add additional litigants to the case. If you are not listed A copy of the letter is attached in word or this email. Copy and print If you have any questions please email me. Bergman and the court are Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays - Happy New Rowie & Pat COPY OF LETTER TO BE SENT TO FESTIVA WITH MAINTENANCE FEE PAYMENT. Festiva Resorts Attention: Donald K. Clayton Re: Pelican Atrium Resort N.V. In the newsletter of Atrium Resort of October 2006, you announced that Enclosed herewith funds for payment of Annual Maintenance Fee as All amounts claimed to be due for Special Assessments and above the NA In the first half of January 2007 a court case is scheduled against you
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