Flip This Lawsuit

The San Antionio Express-News Reports:

The lawsuit, brought by David Escalante of California, alleges that he gave David Montelongo and his company, Montelongo Developments LLC, $5,000 in earnest money and $500 in option money for a 17 percent share in a 14,000-square-foot retail development on a 4-acre tract in Schertz.

The deal was outlined in a partnership agreement that Montelongo drafted, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit claims that Montelongo used the money to put the land under contract, but never signed the partnership agreement.

Montelongo told Escalante he had decided to pursue the deal with a different party, claims Todd Prins, the San Antonio lawyer representing Escalante in the suit.

Montelongo never returned the earnest money, Prins said.

Escalante and his investment company, Pres Estate LLC, are seeking “our share of the deal,” Prins said.

“We’re not seeking anything else than what was agreed to in the beginning,” he said, adding that Montelongo could buy his clients out of the partnership agreement.

Read the entire story for additional details.  FlipThisLawsuit will post the complaint and other documents as soon as we can obtain them from the courthouse.

[Hat tip to the numerous people who submitted the article to us.]

The Texas State University Star reports:

A&E falls short on agreement with students, faculty member 

A group of former Texas State students and a faculty member are disappointed after working with the A&E television show “Flip This House.”

The show “Flip This House” with Armando Montelongo of Montelongo House Buyers Inc. of San Antonio, produced an episode during the fall 2006 semester in conjunction with a Texas State Architectural Design 3 class.

…

Montelongo planned to enlist the help of the undergraduate class to “flip” an empty lot at Smith Lane in San Marcos, and construct nine buildings with four condominium units in each structure, all the while maximizing the return on his investment.

The students were instructed to form teams and develop site diagrams for the project. Montelongo planned to judge the team’s work and choose a winner at the end of the show. The winner’s diagrams were then to be implemented by Montelongo at the site.

…

“The winning team composed of six students was promised a cash prize of $500 per student,” Carpenter said. “The show was filmed, the winning team was announced in a board room scene and a check was presented to the students. The students later found out that the check was only a prop and could not be deposited.”

Read the full article at the Texas State University Star. Hat tip to Steve in Texas for finding this article.