Lost Farm Vs. Barnbougle Dunes...The Lawsuit

Thanks to reader Dan for Selma Milovanovic's story on the lawsuit entangling two courses that most of us thought were part of one facility: Barnbougle Dunes by Tom Doak and Mike Clayton, and Lost Farm, the new Bill Coore course in Tasmania where Mike Keiser is an investor.

Richard Sattler, the owner of land on which both courses stand, is defending allegations he built the upmarket Lost Farm to compete with Barnbougle Dunes using expertise he gained while involved with the Dunes.

In 2001, farmer and hotel chain owner Sattler knew next to nothing about golf when 23-year-old entrepreneur and golf enthusiast Greg Ramsay persuaded him that his windswept coastal property near Bridport, north-east Tasmania, would be perfect for a links golf course.

And...

Joseph Santamaria, QC, for Links Golf Tasmania, said Mr Sattler owed the company fiduciary obligations as a director for seven years to 2009. Despite this, he said, Mr Sattler set up a competitive business at Lost Farm, relying on the information, contacts and intellectual property he gained as a fiduciary of Links Golf Tasmania.
Mr Santamaria said independent investors in Barnbougle Dunes had said Mr Sattler encouraged them to believe they ''would be involved in the second stage'', meaning the Lost Farm development.

But Mr Santamaria told Justice Christopher Jessup he would not be able to show ''a document where in writing Mr Sattler commits himself to equity partners or Links Golf Tasmania having rights with respect to the second course''.

He said Mr Sattler's point of view was ''he had no obligation whatsoever''. ''It [Links Golf Tasmania] took money from investors not on the basis that he [Mr Sattler] would compete, rather on the basis that it could participate,'' he said.