Nashville at law: Client sues deceased attorney's estate

90-year-old man says longtime Nashville lawyer talked him into risky investment [From our print edition featured in Monday's City Paper]

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood

When Clyde Paul Holland passed away in May at the age of 82, friends hailed his kindness and generosity. But soon afterward, one client of Holland’s Nashville law practice began to question what sort of man had been representing him for the past several years.

Walter G. Nollenberger, 90, of Smyrna, sued Clyde Holland’s estate last week in Davidson County Circuit and Chancery courts, and has also filed a claim in Probate Court, in an effort to recover more than $325,000 that he says Holland persuaded him to lend to real estate entrepreneur J. Dwight Holland and his company, Hermitage Developers Inc.

The Chancery case names Dwight Holland and Hermitage Developers in addition to the estate. The complaints say the attorney convinced Nollenberger to lend a total of $425,000 to the developer starting in 2002 — loans that Nollenberger thought were secured by property Dwight Holland owned.

After Clyde Holland passed away, however, Nollenberger learned that no deeds of trust exist to provide security on the loans. Payments from the borrower have not come in since 2007, the lawsuits say.

When asked about the litigation last week, Dwight Holland said he was unaware that it had been filed. He said he was not a relative of Clyde Holland, although the men were friends for 35 to 40 years.

“As a company, we did owe Nollenberger $210,000,” Holland said — but he noted that Hermitage Developers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in June 2008. Its case remains open.

“We did a lot of work with him on things with Nollenberger, but I never did meet Nollenberger,” Dwight Holland said.

The Chancery lawsuit seeks to pierce the corporate veil of Hermitage Developers, “because the separate identity of the corporation is a sham,” and to hold Dwight Holland responsible for its debts.

Nashville lawyer Rocky McElhaney represents Nollenberger. He has filed a claim in probate for almost $196,000, representing the amount of indebtedness for which Clyde Holland allegedly gave a personal guarantee. In addition to the $325,000 still owed on the notes, the lawsuits seek an unspecified amount in accrued interest.

Efforts to reach Joseph P. Calandriello, the local attorney handling Clyde Holland’s estate, have been unsuccessful. The estate has filed an objection to Nollenberger’s probate claim.

Clyde Holland founded the Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Tennessee, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding the families of people with lifelong disabilities. In a memorial note on its Facebook page, a PLAN of Tennessee representative wrote: “We will miss you, Clyde. You brought joy, laughter, and kindness to our lives.”

Dwight Holland echoed those sentiments. “He was a great man,” the contractor said. “It’s unfortunate to know he wasn’t able to pay his stuff back.”

United States District Court

Gun City USA Inc. v. Harry L. McCabe. Filed Oct. 8. A long-established firearms vendor in Nashville sues a local field officer of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in his official capacity to appeal the revocation of its license to sell guns.

The feds took away the store’s license in August, according to the complaint, for violations including failing to keep track of sales and failing to report multiple sales to the ATF and local law enforcement officials. Gun City asserts that any transgressions were the result of negligence, not willful disregard of the law, as the ATF has charged.

Plaintiff’s attorneys: John Harris of Schulman, Leroy & Bennett in Nashville, along with Richard E. Gardiner of Fairfax, Va.

Davidson County Circuit Court

Lexington Insurance Co. as subrogee of Central Parking System Inc. v. R.C. Mathews Contractor LLC, John Bouchard & Co. and Taylor’s Concrete Cutting Service LLC. Filed Oct. 6. If you were in the parking garage/retail complex at Second Avenue North and Commerce Street on July 3, 2008 and you wondered why the lights went out, here’s your reason.

While prepping ground-floor retail space to make way for the Wild Beaver Saloon, Taylor allegedly sawed through the main power line to the building. Central Parking, owner of the building, says the result was some $800,000 in damages. Insurer Lexington has paid some of that amount and is suing to recover those outlays.

Mathews and Bouchard are named because Taylor was their subcontractor. Representatives of the three firms did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

Plaintiff’s attorney: Gail Vaughn Ashworth of Gideon & Wiseman PLC, with two Michigan attorneys.