GALVESTON – A Houston-based bank has asked a federal court for a temporary restraining order to stop sale of a Clear Lake marina in Kemah, property previously used as security for now defaulted loans.
Allegiance Bank also asked the Galveston District Court for injunctive relief to stop the sale, to clarify the legal relationship of parties in the case and declare that the marina cannot be sold by a defendant in the case. Allegiance Bank filed its request with the court on March 22.
The bank's request stems from a defaulted loan and vessel foreclosure action filed in January and pending before the same court, Allegiance Bank v. M/V Lake Limo, in which Allegiance Bank is suing J Mark Caldwell as well as MVR Star Fleet, of which he is president. Other defendants in that case are Star Fleet Marina, three Star Fleet officials and a guarantor of various loans to MVR Star Fleet that are in default.
Also in January, Star Fleet Marina, known locally in Kemah for providing private corporate and group cruises around Clear Lake aboard a fleet of yachts, announced plans to build a parking garage and a multi-story mixed-use development for dining, office and commercial use.
The passenger cruise vessels in the foreclosure action filed by Allegiance Bank were previously owned by the same entities which own MVR Star Fleet, according to the bank's request. "MVR Star Fleet remains indebted to Star Fleet Marina LP for the vessels," the request said.
Allegiance Bank claims Star Fleet Marina is $600,000 in default on loans secured by the vessels and other assets. "So, to the great surprise of Allegiance Bank, Star Fleet Marina is now attempting to sell more assets to an entity Mr. Caldwell is affiliated with," the bank's request said. "Allegiance is obviously apprehensive about the specter that some of the proceeds it funded Mr. Caldwell might be transferred to defendant vis-à-vis this sale."
Allegiance Bank says it's especially concerned about the floating docks and office barge at Star Fleet Marina that, together with the vessels, are security for liens and agreements. When the bank's foreclosure action was filed, the vessels were seized by the U.S. Marshal but the barge and docks couldn't be moved, according to the lawsuit. To resolve that, Allegiance Bank reportedly agreed to a month to month slip-lease.
That slip-lease was compromised by a sale Caldwell allegedly has been arranging. On March 17, Allegiance Bank discovered the pending sale of the marina between MVR Star Fleet and J Mark Caldwell’s new entity, Star Harbor Resorts, the bank's request said.
"Because defendant concealed the pending sale to J Mark Caldwell’s new group, the bank entered into a month to month lease which will be subject to cancellation by the Bank’s own debtor!" the request said. "If the bank had known of Star Fleet Marina LP actions, it would have acted differently."
Allegiance Bank itself has been trying to sell the barge and docks and if they were conveyed to Caldwell’s new group, "the title and security interest in the floating docks could be clouded," the bank's request says. That and other events related to the pending sale "would lead to the Bank suffering irreparable harm," the request says.
This is not the first time Caldwell has been a named defendant in a federal vessel foreclosure action. Another such action was filed in 2008 in U.S. District Court for South Carolina's Charleston Division in Admiralty, involving the fifty-five foot Sea Ray vessel "Monkey Bidness."