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County files suit over Cashiers library site
By Lynn Hotaling
In an effort to move ahead with construction of a library addition in Cashiers, county officials last week (May 3) filed suit against a Cashiers couple.
At issue is a sales contract signed in November by which Jim Nichols and his wife, Kimberly Diane Nichols, agreed to sell Jackson County 3.5 acres in Cashiers for $1.5 million. The Nichols tract adjoins the library and Southwestern Community College’s Cashiers campus.
Though Jackson County leaders expected to finalize the deal in January, the Nichols have refused to execute the contract, Jackson County Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan said.
Anticipating that the property acquisition deal would close on schedule, commissioners solicited bids on a planned 5,400-square-foot addition to the Albert Carlton/Cashiers Community Library. When those bids were received in March, county leaders’ hands were tied because they did not hold title to the property, and they could not accept the low bid of $1,401,904 from Hunter Construction of Spruce Pine, Buchanan said.
Nichols has refused to move forward with the sale due to a dispute between him and his ex-wife, Kimberly A. Nichols, that involved the terms of their divorce agreement, Buchanan said in March.
Jim Nichols declined comment Tuesday.
According to the lawsuit, the dispute between Jim Nichols and his former wife centers around a separation and property settlement agreement signed in September 2001 as part of their divorce. That agreement grants Kimberly A. Nichols the right of first refusal should Jim Nichols decide to sell the tract the county wants to purchase.
Kimberly A. Nichols, who now lives in Florida, contends that she was never offered her right of first refusal before Jim Nichols entered into a contract with Jackson County, according to the lawsuit filed by Paul Holt, the attorney representing Jackson County. Holt also named Kimberly A. Nichols as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“I included her to protect the county,” Holt said Tuesday. “We’ll let the court decide if she has a claim or not.”
Kimberly A. Nichols maintains that she is entitled to the proceeds from the sale of the property to Jackson County since she was not given the right of first refusal, the lawsuit states.
Both Holt and Commissioners’ Chairman Buchanan said the conflict between Jim Nichols and Kimberly A. Nichols is separate from the agreement Nichols and his current wife signed with Jackson County.
In the lawsuit, plaintiff Jackson County asks the court to order Jim and Kimberly Diane Nichols to comply with the purchase contract and deed the property to Jackson County once the county provides payment.
The suit further asks that money paid by the county go to the Clerk of Court’s office and remain there until the dispute between Jim Nichols and Kimberly A. Nichols is settled.
The plaintiff also seeks to recover attorney’s fees and court costs.
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