Porters Neck Country Club files for bankruptcy protection

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - Porters Neck Country Club announced Thursday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection.

“There were several factors precipitating this decision," board chairman David Adams said in a news release. "After overcoming significant impacts from Hurricane Florence, we experienced more damage from Hurricane Dorian than most of Wilmington, due to tornadoes in our area. Additionally, we have been in a lawsuit and disputes over ponds around the Club, lawsuits over insurance coverage and remediation, and a lawsuit with our developer. These all have carried costs for the Club.

The lawsuit with the Club’s developer arises out of the structure the developer put in place for the sale of Club memberships that, ultimately, underfunds Club operations. We also have an ongoing dispute with our insurance carrier regarding their retention of the law firm of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani out of Raleigh, who caused the Club to be sanctioned in the case against the developer, making it almost impossible for us to restructure the Club in any other reasonable fashion. After three unsuccessful mediations and other informal settlement efforts, I can say that our Board tried everything to avoid this path. We think this restructuring will allow us to emerge stronger as a Club and as a community.”

In March, the country club filed a civil action against its insurance company, claiming it owed the club more than $6 million to cover property damage from Hurricane Florence.

According to court documents, the suit against Allied World Assurance Company was dismissed with prejudice in August.

The country club will continue to operate under the bankruptcy protection and officials say they don’t “anticipate any service disruptions or changes in the quality of Club facilities, staffing, or programming.”

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