Three Taoyuan county brothers alleged yesterday that developer Hone Shee Group (
The three say Hone Shee in 1993 built the entrance of its Ta Shee Resort (
Ta Shee, established in 1987, is one of the nation's most exclusive golf club resorts, attracting notable figures and political leaders such as former president Lee Teng-hui (
The Huang family of Taoyuan County say that the owner of the Hone Shee Group, Chang Hsiu-cheng (張秀政), has illegally occupied their land for more than a decade.
Half of the land in dispute is owned by the Huang family and the other half belongs to Chiang Shih-pi (
Liu Min-ching (
In addition, the family is seeking damages through a civil suit, and has asked Hone Shee to return profits that it acquired from "unlawful" use of the family's land over the past years.
Liu said the Huang family is also considering seeking a court injunction to halt Hone Shee's use of the property.
Liu said the Huang family discovered that Chang had used a forged agreement to gain permission from Taoyuan authorities in 1988 to build on the land. According to documents, that agreement was made between the property's original owner -- Huang Shih-chiao (黃師樵), grandfather of the three brothers -- and Chang.
But Huang Shih-chiao has been dead since at least 1980, the brothers say, and so couldn't have possibly signed the agreement in 1988.
"Apparently, the agreement was forged," Liu said.
Although the Huang family had asked Chang to return the land, the lawyer said, Chang did not respond until threatened with legal action.
According to Liu, Chang has also argued that Hone Shee received permission to use the land from the father of three brothers and the property's other owner.
But Hone Shee countered the land owners' accusations yesterday, saying it did in fact obtain the authorization of the three brothers' grandfather. To settle the matter, Hone Shee has offered to purchase the property or trade other parcels of land in exchange.
Ou Kun-sheng (歐崑生), a Hone Shee spokesman, said yesterday the group attempted to purchase the land several years ago, but the deal fell through because the Huang family sought an "incredible" price.
The move to enjoin Hone Shee from using the disputed land is predicated on the belief that doing so would block Ta Shee's celebrity customers from the resort, thus shutting it down.
Still, Ou said that Hone Shee still had the right to use the other half of the land not owned by the Huang family.
He said that the resort's operations would not be affected by the dispute.
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