Church, trustees sued over real estate transaction

MARTINSBURG -– A Baltimore-based company has filed suit against Destiny Baptist Church and five of its trustees, alleging they did not perform all of their obligations after selling real estate to the company.

Red-Leaf – Destiny purchased real estate on Edwin Miller Boulevard where the Walgreen's store is located from Destiny Baptist Church on Oct. 26, 2007, according to the complaint filed Dec. 1 in Berkeley Circuit Court.

In a contract of sale between the company and the church, the church agreed to provide certain site work, including an access road and storm water management system, the suit states.

However, Destiny Baptist Church failed to provide all the site work required by the contract, Red-Leaf claims.

So, the church and the company entered into an escrow and funding agreement in which a certain amount of money was set aside from the sale to complete the site work that had not been finished, according to the complaint.

Still, the money set aside in the escrow was not enough to complete the construction of the access road and the storm water management system, the suit states.

Because the church did not complete both projects, Red-Leaf paid $73,167.51 to hire companies to finish the jobs, the company alleges.

In addition to the balance due, Red-Leaf is seeking costs, attorneys' fees, post-judgment interest and other relief the court deems just.

Tracey A. Rohrbaugh of Bowles, Rice, McDavid, Graff and Love in Martinsburg will be representing it.

Berkeley Circuit Court case number: 08-C-1381