4-County Electric Power Association has filed a lawsuit against a Macon man over a real estate contract.
Phillip Eaves, who owns a logging business, signed a contract stating he would buy the local utility company’s $250,000 office building in Macon, according to documents The Dispatch obtained from Lowndes County Chancery Court documents. The contract was scheduled to close July 1. Eaves backed out.
“Mr. Eaves signed a legal and valid contract to purchase the closed Macon district office and he has defaulted on the contract,” 4-County’s lawyer David Sanders confirmed.
The company filed suit July 13. Eaves has 30 days to respond, according to Sanders.
Eaves said he signed the contract agreeing to purchase the building, but he did not pay any earnest money on it.
“They never took any earnest money,” he said. “And I’ve been told by every lawyer that I’ve talked to that (the) contract is not valid with them not receiving the earnest money. But that’s not the judge saying that, you know.”
Eaves planned to purchase the building and use it for his own business and potentially to expand his wife’s enterprise — Sassy Designs. He decided not to purchase the building when his father-in-law became sick and had to move into a nursing home, he said, because of his relative’s health care costs. He said he informed 4-County of his decision before the closing date of July 1, though he added he couldn’t remember the exact date.
“That’s something that was beyond our control,” he said. “We couldn’t help it. You know, we had to take care of our health situation first.”
Sanders confirmed Eaves never paid earnest money on the property. However, the contract, which is signed by Eaves, a 4-County representative and Robert Rhett of Rhett Real Estate, Inc., said Eaves had deposited $1,000 in earnest money. The contract was signed in March.
Sanders said no one at 4-County was aware that Eaves hadn’t made such a deposit when they signed the contract.
“Even if money didn’t change hands, there is legal consideration sufficient to bind him to perform the contract,” he said.
“In today’s world, when one signs a contract, one is bound by the contract,” he added. “And 4-County is requesting that Mr. Eaves do what he said he would do.”
Eaves plans to face 4-County in court without a lawyer, he said. However, he said, he had talked to several lawyers who advised him that the contract wasn’t valid if he didn’t pay earnest money.
“I can’t believe that 4-County is pressing this issue with the situation the way it is,” Eaves said. “I just can’t understand that.”
4-County is a rural electric cooperative that serves parts of nine east Mississippi counties, including Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee.
The Macon property went on the market earlier this year, Sanders said, though he wasn’t sure of the exact date. The utility company has closed several of its offices over the years, including the office in Columbus in 2014. At the time of that closing, 4-County Electric CEO Joe Cade told The Dispatch it aimed to reduce costs and that the company can do more business through technology.
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