CINCINNATI — A Hamilton County jury has awarded Revolution Fitness nearly $22.3 million in a legal battle against Doug Evans and his company, BEE Holdings, LP, after finding that they had unlawfully blocked the fitness chain from purchasing a leased property.
The jury ruled that Evans and BEE Holdings engaged in deceptive practices by failing to uphold a contractual agreement that would have allowed Revolution Fitness to consider buying the space it had occupied since 2014. Evidence presented during the trial illustrated a pattern of misrepresentation and concealment on the part of Evans and his company.
Matthew C. Metzger, co-counsel for Revolution Fitness from Wolterman Law Office, noted that the case highlighted a blatant disregard for contractual obligations by powerful individuals looking to profit at the expense of smaller businesses. “Doug Evans misled our client, took the property out from under it, and then flipped the property to Forest Hills School District for a massive profit,” Metzger stated.
The origins of the dispute trace back to the sale of the property located at 3652 Round Bottom Road in March 2018. During the trial, it was revealed that in July 2016, as part of divorce proceedings, BEE Holdings transferred the property to Banshee 3652, LLC, an entity controlled by Evans’ ex-wife, Stephanie Evans. In March 2018, Banshee sold the property back to BEE for $725,000 without informing Revolution Fitness or honoring its right of first refusal outlined in the lease.
Shortly after, BEE Holdings sold the property to the Forest Hills School District for $2.15 million, resulting in an almost 300% return on investment. Testimony indicated that BEE misrepresented Revolution Fitness’s rent payment history to Banshee, falsely claiming that no payments had been made in the five months leading up to the sale, despite evidence that Revolution Fitness had paid over $77,000.
In February 2018, just weeks before the sale was finalized, Revolution Fitness expressed interest in purchasing the property. However, Evans and his legal counsel failed to pass this information along, leading to Banshee’s misunderstanding of the situation; Banshee representatives later testified they would have considered a sale to Revolution had they been informed.
Brian Butler, co-counsel for Revolution Fitness from The Butler Trial Firm, expressed the jury’s verdict as a strong message against the bullying tactics often employed by wealthy property owners. “Wealthy property owners cannot bully small businesses, take their rent, and put them out of business without facing serious consequences,” he remarked.
The jury’s decision included $7,494,967 in compensatory damages and an additional $14.8 million in punitive damages. This substantial award underscores the court’s commitment to holding individuals accountable for unethical business practices.
This is not the first legal trouble for Evans. In 2020, he was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison after being convicted of defrauding the City of Cincinnati out of nearly $2 million in small business contracts. In 2023, he was at the center of another controversy when Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sought to hold him in contempt of court for failing to clean up waste at one of his landscaping sites.
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