Paul Brinkmann, Reporter- South Florida Business Journal

Palm Beach County developer Daniel Catalfumo has accused BankAtlantic successor BBX Capital of “wasteful scorched earth litigation tactics” in an unusual bankruptcy filing.

According to the bankruptcy documents, BBX has “sued 50 persons and entities allegedly related to Mr. Catalfumo” including lawsuits against offshore trusts in the Island of Jersey and the Cayman Islands.

BBX is pursuing Catalfumo on a $41 million judgment the lender obtained in 2011, on personal guarantees Catalfumo made on several loans. Other lenders have also scored judgments or filed foreclosure against Catalfumo, whose recent troubles have been reported in the Palm Beach Post and other publications.

Catalfumo alleges that BBX purposefully allowed two foreclosures to languish on properties related to his PGA Flyover Corporate Park – therefore clouding the titles and business related to the properties.

The bankruptcy docket for the PGA Flyover included 21 docket entries on the first two days, a rare and sweeping legal move by Catalfumo and his bankruptcy attorney Bradley Shraiberg.

The bankruptcy filings reveal a far-reaching, and growing, legal war between BBX (successor to BankAtlantic) and Catalfumo.

Catalfumo states that BBX has obtained injunctions to freeze offshore accounts he is involved in, and that BBX has filed lawsuits against his accounts in the Island of Jersey and in the Cayman Islands.

Attempts to contact BBX about the bankruptcy filing were not immediately successful.

According to the bankruptcy petition, PGA Flyover Corporate Park has assets of $15.4 million and liabilities of $41.5 million. BBX is listed in the bankruptcy documents as having a claim of $41 million with $14.4 million secured by property in that case.

PGA Flyover states that it had $565,000 in tenant collections in 2012.

Catalfumo and his attorneys are asking for permission to have the properties valued so they can determine how to treat BBX’s claim as secured by the properties.

In 2011, BankAtlantic filed two foreclosure lawsuits against several Catalfumo-related companies, including PGA Flyover Corporate Park and PGA Transportation Oriented Development.

The foreclosure against PGA Flyover Corporate Park concerned a $20.5 million mortgage on the 200,000-square-foot office building at 4290 Design Center Drive.

The action against PGA Transportation Oriented Development was over a $7 million mortgage on a vacant, commercial-zoned 5.5-acre site at 11200 RCA Center Drive.

Catalfumo Construction was once among the largest general contractors in Palm Beach County and completed numerous local projects.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/blog/2013/04/catalfumo-bbx-capital-legal-war.html