Although I don't like it when Nic's personal life is discussed,I have to post it. Looks like financial issues aren't over for Nic...
Nicolas Cage, Former Manager named in Contractor Cross-Complaint
(CNS) Posted Thursday November 25, 2010 - 9:28am
Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage and his former business manager are named in a cross-complaint by a general contractor who was sued along with both men in a home construction defect lawsuit.
Richard C. Nazarian, owner of The Nickel Co., brought the suit Friday against Cage and accountant Samuel Levin, asking that they be be ordered to pay at least part of any judgment against him as well as his costs to defend himself in court.
The plaintiff, Bradley Lindsley, is a brother of actress Blake Lindsley.
He bought a Venice home from Cage seven years ago for $3 million.
Lindsley originally sued the developer, the Lee Group, then added Cage -- whose well-publicized real estate woes include his sales of some of his other homes at drastically reduced prices -- as a defendant as well as Levin and Nazarian.
He is suing the actor for fraud and negligent non-disclosure.
Numerous subcontractors have been named in other cross-complaints.
Cage bought one of two single-family homes the Lee Group built adjacent to each other on Ocean Front Walk in November 2002, according to the complaint.
Lindsley alleges that some time after Cage moved into the home, the actor and his neighbor in the other Lee Group home had problems with flooding and told the developers.
However, when Lindsley bought the home from Cage in May 2003, the actor did not tell him about the defects, according to the complaint.
"It is now clear that before Cage sold the residence to (Lindsley), he obtained a written engineering report ... that there was no fix (and) that any potential owner of the property would have to accept the risk associated with drainage at the site," Lindsley's court papers state.
When a prior prospective buyer of Cage's residence found out about the problems, he canceled escrow, according to the suit.
Lindsley says that five years after he bought the home, he hired engineers to look into conditions at the home and found the problems Cage allegedly did not disclose.
"As a result of the investigation, the engineers discovered foundation, drainage, structural and superstructure defects ... not outwardly apparent or reasonably discoverable, except by an expert analysis ...," according to the suit.
In a separate complaint, Cage sued Levin, blaming him for reckless spending that included failing to pay the actor's tax bills. The two later settled.
The 46-year-old Cage is appealing a judge's denial of his attorneys' motion to force arbitration of the dispute with Lindsley.
Levin's lawyers also filed a motion to compel arbitration, but later withdrew it.
They instead filed a separate motion stating the complaint is unclear about what the allegations are against Levin.
Cage was named best actor for his role in the 1995 film "Leaving Las Vegas."
Lindsley is a filmmaker who was among the producers of the 1997 film "Dogtown," whose cast included his sister.
The Lindsleys are the children of the late attorney Norbert Schlei, the principal draftsman of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Their mother, Barbara Lindemann, also is a lawyer.
She worked in the administration of President Jimmy Carter and has written books on employment discrimination law.
We have very strict laws in the U.S. regarding real estate. If you know your property has a problem, any problem, you have to disclose it when you put it on the market.
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