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Thursday, January 28, 2010
Ind. Courts - "Simon Property caught in family feud"
Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 26, which included this quote from the Indianapolis Star:
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, the world's largest publicly traded retail estate company, filed a complaint Monday in Hamilton Superior Court against Simon's widow, Bren Simon.This afternoon Jeff Swiatek of the Star reports:
Bren Simon today charged Simon Property Group with breach of agreement for refusing to let her convert to cash or stock her partnership holdings in the company.Hamilton County is one of localities in the State where the Court's JTAC division has the Odyssey case management system up and running, with free public access.The widow of company cofounder Melvin Simon, who died last September, contends in her 13-page filing in Hamilton Superior Court that the company changed its reasoning once for not converting her holdings and settled on a reason that mischaracterizes the agreement governing the rules for doing a conversion.
AdvertisementThe company "is not justified in withholding conversion" of her partnership units, her filing says.
The units, which are part of Melvin Simon's $1 billion-plus estate, are worth tens of millions of dollars. * * *
She contends in her filing that David Simon is represented by lawyers in the will challenge, so the company "cannot justify its refusal to convert SPG units to cash or stock when it is apparent that SPG's chairman and CEO himself is attempting to thwart that obligation to convert."
So I decided to take a look at exactly what information was available to the public on this case.
Here it is, Simon Property Group INC,Simon Property Group LP vs. Bren Simon, filed 1/25/10 in Hamilton Superior Court 3. Here is the information available to the public, in addition to the names of the parties and attorneys:
Disappointed? The Indianapolis Star story above fleshes out the "details', such as the fact that the "Answer to a Complaint" filed today, 1/28/10, was filed by Bren Simon, is 13 pages long, and includes the contentions summarized in the story.
In other words, the "public access" provided by Odyssey is only the barest of bones. Don't cancel your newspaper subscription!
To see for yourself, go here. Then select "Civil, Family & Probate Case Records." Then I selected "Search by Party" and typed in "Simon, Bren."
Three cases turned up this afternoon. The second is the one in today's story. The other two were the subject of ILB entries earlier this month.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 28, 2010 06:24 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts