Court rules in favor of casino over price paid for Monsanto land
By JOSH RESNEK
The Wynn Corporation has succeeded in putting to rest the last lawsuit against its presence on the former Monsanto site.
A Suffolk Superior Court judge has ruled that FBT, the owners of the land who conveyed it to Wynn Corporation, will not receive another dime for the property.
FBT had been seeking an additional $40 million over the $35 million sale price believing it was owed that money.
The Massachusetts Gam- ing Commission cut the land price to Wynn after FBT had been shown to have a convicted felon as one of its original owners.
Judge Kenneth Salinger ordered in a 12-page decision released June 16 that a final judgment be entered dismiss- ing the claims of FBT Everett Realty, LLC against the MGC with prejudice, and also dismissed the third-party claims by the MGC against Wynn MA, LLC, with prejudice.
Wynn argued that if the MGC obtains summary judgment on FBT’s remaining claim, then the MGC would have no basis for pressing its unjust enrichment claim against Wynn. And the MGC agreed.
The court, therefore, allowed Wynn’s motion for summary judgment.
Thus ends a long list of lawsuits connected with the Monsanto property land dealings beginning in the early 2000s and ending with the sale to Wynn, the indictment of several FBT partners, and their subsequent victory in court.
FBT was attempting to have Wynn pay the $40 million subtracted from the land price by the MGC, appearing to give Wynn a $40 million discount for the land.
Those expectations were ruled irrelevant by the SJC because FBT cited a case about a regulatory taking that did not apply to the Everett land situation.
The SJC threw out FBT’s legal discussion of investment-backed expectations.
The granting of the license to Wynn as well as the sale of the land approved by the MGC for $35 million made it impossible for FBT to assert that their objectives in seeking an additional $40 million were reasonable.
For the time being, Wynn’s slate is clean of Massachusetts lawsuits and monetary claims for the first time in years.