President Jim Gorczyca filed suit in St. Louis County on Dec. 7 against Laura McCarthy Real Estate alleging fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation and violation of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act regarding his purchase of 1800 W. Adams Avenue from Dr. John S. Daniels, Associate Professor Clinical Medicine at Washington University, in 2007.
According to court documents Dr. Daniels and Laura McCarthy agent Helane Isaacs are also named as defendants.
Gorczyca alleges that in 2007 Laura McCarthy published and gave to him a Residential Agent Standard Report regarding the Adams Avenue property which stated that the property was not located in a flood plain.
Gorczyca further alleges that he did not know the representations contained within the report were false and on June 1, 2007 he purchased the house after Dr. Daniels had signed a seller’s disclosure statement which stated that the property was not located within a flood plain and further stated that the bridge located on the property was being inspected and necessary repairs would be made.
On Feb. 4, 2010 when he went to refinance the property Gorczyca alleges that he found out that in 1978 Kirkwood had designated the property in a flood plain and sent notification to the owners.
As a result Gorczyca alleges that he has suffered a decrease in property value and is unable to subdivide the property and can not build on the lower portion of the property as he had intended. The bridge has also allegedly been inspected and found unsafe needing to be removed and replaced.
He is seeking a judgement of $604,200 for false representations regarding the flood plain and false representations regarding the bridge which Gorczyca alleges that he has incurred more than $20,000 in expenditures for.
The O’Fallon Brewery is a craft brewery located in O’Fallon, that produces beers including O’Fallon Gold and O’Fallon Wheach. The brewery produced 6,400 barrels of beer in 2010 for distribution to 11 states.
Gorczyca bought the brewery in May of 2011 from Tony and Fran Caradonna following a more than 20-year marketing career which included being Marketing Director for Anheuser-Busch Europe Ltd. from 2004 to 2007.
According to the company website, Laura McCarthy Real Estate was founded in 1944 and is considered one of the most respected names in St. Louis real estate with particular expertise in the neighborhoods in the central corridor of St. Louis. Laura McCarthy Real Estate has offices in Clayton and Town and Country
Gorczyca is being represented by George Restovich of Restovich Allen who declined comment citing pending litigation. Attempts to reach Laura McCarthy Real Estate were unsuccessful as of Tuesday morning.
