HARCOURT Developments, the property company controlled by Donegal businessman Pat Doherty, has filed a motion seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it over a $1bn residential and retail complex plan­ned for Las Vegas in Nevada.

Former partner Glen, Smith & Glen (GSG) Developments sued Harcourt subsidiary Harcourt Nevada for allegedly failing to provide finance of up to $800m for the scheme. Now Harcourt has asked for the lawsuit to be thrown out say­ing the funding requirement was subject to conditions in the operating agreement that were never met.

According to Harcourt the operating agreement says financing should be available on reason­able terms and the loan terms required the unanimous approval of members. Neither condition was met, local reports claim.

The companies had entered into an operating agreement for the scheme, known as Sullivan Square, in August 2006. However, the local property market has fallen since then. Harcourt says the parties exchanged correspondence for several months, attempting to resolve their differences. After it requested that GSG stop expending money on the project until the market began to recover, GSG filed a lawsuit.

GSG claim Harcourt defaulted on its funding obligations in October 2007. A call to Harcourt Developments last week seeking comment was not returned.