Cole County judge dismisses case against Hawthorn Bank over farmland auction
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Cole County Judge Joseph Shetler dismissed a lawsuit against Hawthorne Bank on Friday over a land auction.
An auction for a piece of land that several people have claimed was meant to become a county park.
Plaintiffs in the case claim to have a special interest in how the land is handled, according to court documents. Two of the plaintiffs, Mark Knapp and Gary Scheperle, were named in the Lawrence and Mary Renn Trust, which left 178 acres of land in Elston to Cole County.
The judge dismissed the case without prejudice on Friday, claiming the plaintiffs had a "lack of standing and a failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."
"I feel like I've been punched in the gut," Knapp told an ABC 17 News reporter after Shetler dismissed the case. "Just really disappointed."
Plaintiffs argue that the land was left to Cole County to be turned into a park, but the administrator of the trust, Hawthorn Bank, misled the county commissioners in how much money was left in the trust to turn it into a park.
Plaintiffs asked the judge to remove Hawthorn Bank as an administrator and appoint a new one, and cancel the land auction scheduled for Saturday. However, with the judge's decision, the auction will continue as normal.
Knapp said the trust requires whatever the county receives from the land to go toward either student scholarships or a charitable organization.
The bank filed a motion to dismiss the case on Thursday. The bank had argued that the group had no standing and that the two people who were named in the trust -- Knapp and Gary Scheperle – had received their money and are no longer considered beneficiaries. The judge agreed with that in his judgement.
"Plaintiffs Mark Knapp and Gary Scheperle are no longer beneficiaries of the Renn Trust, they are not owed any further fiduciary duties by the Trustee, and they do not have standing to bring this lawsuit as former beneficiaries," Shetler wrote in his decision.
In the motion to dismiss, Hawthorn Bank's attorney Micheal Schmid, asked the judge for relief and for the plaintiffs to pay the bank's attorney fees.
The auction starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at the VFW Post, located at 1003-105 Irwin Drive, Jefferson City. It will be sold in six different tracts.
