A former longtime land partner in the Catawba Indians’ $700 million North Carolina casino has sued the tribe over trespass and property damage claims.
In its lawsuit, Kings Mountain Land Development Partners LLC says the tribe has significantly devalued the developer’s land where the casino is under construction in Kings Mountain by carving it up.
The tribe has “run roughshod” over the developer’s land by wrongfully removing dirt and fill, crushing rock to convert it into road material and improperly altering drainage on the property, the lawsuit says.
The property is being used “as if it belonged to the tribe,” when workers are in effect trespassing, according to the complaint in Cleveland County Civil Superior Court.
It was unclear if the lawsuit, filed in October, will delay construction of the casino.
Raleigh lawyer Mike Mitchell, who represents the tribe in the case, told The Charlotte Observer on Wednesday that he was checking to see if he could respond to the newspaper’s request for comment. Mitchell has not replied again.