VBT loses appeal in Visteon case, meets to decide what to do next

On May 16, the Van Buren Township appeal in the Visteon bond case was dismissed by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
On Monday afternoon, the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees and members of the Local Development Finance Authority (LDFA) met for about an hour behind closed doors with their attorney in the case, Kaveh Kashef.
When they ended the session Monday, there was no public announcement on their conclusions, but at Tuesday’s regular meeting the board voted to approve its attorney’s recommendation regarding Visteon legislation.
The suit originally was filed in August 2015 in Wayne County Circuit Court. It alleged Visteon breached its contract tied to the construction of Visteon Village.
The township claimed Visteon is legally obligated to cover the projected shortfall between bond payments and tax revenue from its headquarters.
Visteon contends it isn’t obligated to cover the shortfall.
Circuit Court dismissed the case in February 2016 saying the township cannot sue for an injury or shortfall it has not yet realized – and the appeals court agreed.
However, both courts ruled that Van Buren Township can refile the complaint when a shortfall actually occurs.
In 2012, Visteon sold Visteon Village to Sovereign Partners LLC, a New York real estate firm, for a reported $81.1 million. The site now is referred to as Grace Lake.