The ownership of the Luana Isles canals and yacht basin in Anna Maria will be determined in court.
City attorney Becky Vose filed a lawsuit Oct. 2 in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on behalf of the municipality against Noslens Inc. and its controlling officer, Steven Nelson, over ownership.
The Luana Isles canals and yacht basin is the city’s northernmost canal system and makes up almost 11 acres of residential waterways. It runs between and abuts property along five cul-de-sacs on Iris Street, Gulf Drive, Hammock Road, Pelican Drive and Tern Drive. It is otherwise contained between Gladiolus Street, Poinsettia Road, Holly Road and Jacaranda Road.
According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office, the canals are owned by Noslens Inc., a Florida corporation located at 305 Spring Ave.
However, Vose’s lawsuit alleges that the company fraudulently claimed ownership of the city-owned canals and yacht basin. According to her filing, the canals were dedicated for permanent public use in 1962 by West Coast Properties of Clearwater Inc., which dissolved in 1969.
Nevertheless, Nelson created a new corporation with the same name in December 2021 and, in January 2022, the new corporation purported to convey the Luana Isles canals to Noslens Inc. via a quitclaim deed.
Vose’s lawsuit alleges that Nelson “thereafter engaged in a scheme to sell interests in the fraudulently titled waterways to nearby property owners, falsely demanding such property owners pay for a quitclaim deed to such interest as necessary to protect their own property’s title and creating a burden upon property sales and closings.”
“Defendants filed or caused the filing of the false instrument with the intent to defraud and harass the city of Anna Maria and its residents, to cloud title to public property, and to extort money from affected waterfront property owners,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit asks the court to:
- Declare the 2022 quitclaim deed “fraudulent, null and void”;
- Require the defendants to provide a full accounting for money received in connection with their fraudulent claims and disgorge all such funds “to reimburse affected property owners for their losses and expenses”;
- Enjoin the defendants from attempting further fraud;
- Declare the defendants’ conduct a public nuisance;
- Grant a declaratory judgment establishing the city’s exclusive rights over the canals;
- Grant a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from claiming ownership of them.
The filing also asks the court to award the city for actual and reputational damages, “punitive damages sufficient to punish defendants and deter similar conduct,” as well as attorneys’ fees and court costs.
Vose declined to comment on the case in an Oct. 9 phone call with The Islander.