CATLETTSBURG — An attorney representing one of the owners of a closed discount movie theater in Ashland says his client intends to continue to pursue legal action he filed last year against the majority owners of the cinema, despite its recent shutdown.
In fact, the attorney, Christopher Dawson of Flatwoods, said he may file additional claims on behalf of his client, Leland Todd Cordle, stemming from Midtown Cinema 3’s closure and eviction from the Midtown Mall.
Cordle, of Flatwoods, and his then-wife, Angie Cordle, reopened Midtown Cinema 3 — which had closed by its former owner, Loews. The theater — which for many years was the only place in Ashland where one could see a movie — closed on Sunday after five years of showing second-run films.
The closing came two days prior to an eviction hearing scheduled in Boyd District Court.
Gateway Van Buren Inc., the Indianapolis-based company that owns the property and leased it to the owners of Midtown Cinema 3, filed eviction papers with the court Aug. 23. According to those papers, the theater’s owners stopped making their monthly lease payments of $5,051 in February of this year and were nearly $32,000 in arrears.
Gateway Van Buren gave the owners written notice to vacate the property on July 18, according to court records.
The owners reportedly stopped making the payments due to leasing company’s refusal to make needed repairs to the property.
Dawson said, Cordle, who still owns 30 percent interest in Midtown Cinema 3, lost managing interest in the theater when he and his wife divorced and Angie Cordle transferred her shares in the company to her brother, Greg Wilson.
In the lawsuit, filed in July 2006, Cordle seeks dissolution of the company, alleging Wilson misused company assets for his own personal benefit.
After the suit was filed, Cordle and Wilson talked about Cordle buying out Wilson’s interest in the company, pursuant to Cordle’s right of first refusal, Dawson said. The parties subsequently reached an agreement for Cordle to buy Wilson’s 70 percent share for $25,000. However, Wilson allegedly reneged on the deal and sold his controlling interest to Kenneth Webb for the same price.
Following the sale, Dawson filed an amended complaint alleging his client’s first refusal rights were breached and charging Webb with interference with contractual relations.
The suit also demands receiver be appointed to wind up the affairs of the company; Wilson’s shares be transferred to Cordle; Cordle recover monetary damages from Webb; and Cordle recover from Wilson “all financial assets misused for his personal benefit.”
Dawson dismissed the suggestion that Midtown Cinema 3 was no longer a viable business due to the opening a stadium-seating cineplex at Kyova Mall this past spring and lowered admission prices at Ashland’s Movies 10, which were instituted to help it compete with the newer theater.
“Although the new theater at the Kyova Mall might have had some impact on Midtown Cinema 3, the theaters really serve different customers and we are certain Midtown could have succeeded had it been properly managed,” he said.
Claims made in civil lawsuits state only one side of an issue.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
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