NEW ORLEANS – A Florida corporation alleges an Orleans Parish bank misrepresented that it could honor a loan.
Bakrac Inc. filed a complaint on March 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against First National Bank of Commerce alleging that the state chartered bank refused to return commitment fee.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that in 2015, plaintiff sought a loan for $7.4 million from defendant for the construction of a new 92-room boutique hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida. In order to secure the loan, plaintiff paid the commitment fee of $74,000, the suit states, and the plaintiff also incurred costs for obtaining an appraisal in order to satisfy defendant's imposed loan obligations.
The plaintiff holds First National Bank of Commerce responsible because despite defendant not being able to honor its loan obligations, the defendant allegedly accepted the commitment fee and did not return the same when plaintiff was unable to close on the loan.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment in favor of petitioner, for a reasonable amount to be provided at trial, with legal interest, costs of the proceedings and all other just and equitable relief. It is represented by R. Joshua Koch Jr. and Jennifer E. Barriere of Koch & Schmidt LLC in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:17-cv-02428