YOUNGSTOWN - A lender is asking a judge to throw the owner of the California Palms Addiction Recovery in jail in the latest salvo fired in a contentious, long-running legal battle between the two.

Pender Capital this week filed a motion in Mahoning County Court asking that California Palms owner Sebastian Rucci be incarcerated, saying that not enough is being done to enforce an October contempt of court order against Rucci and the recovery center.

In that order, Rucci was ordered to vacate the faux palm tree-lined property at Route 46 and I-80 in Austintown after being found in contempt of an earlier court-approved settlement with Pender Capital.

In addition to Rucci’s incarceration, Pender seeks $70,000 in back rent, $77,776 in attorney fees and costs, and fines of $2,500 per day starting on December 4, 2019. As of Thursday, rent, attorney fees, and daily fines would total $307,775.

Pender also wants California Palms to vacate the property.

Just last month, Rucci filed a lawsuit against Pender claiming its loan violates Ohio laws prohibiting interest rates in excess of 25%.

The 154-page civil lawsuit accuses Pender Capital of violating state usury laws by charging Rucci interest rates between 50% and 97%.

The suit alleged corrupt activity on Pender’s part claiming the lender is trying to collect what Rucci characterizes as an “unlawful debt.”

Rucci wants the court to award him three times the $2 million in damages he claims to have suffered.

The suit came just two days after a federal judge dismissed California Palms’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that Rucci hoped would let him refinance the $4 million debt.

The bankruptcy court sent the Palms foreclosure case back to Mahoning County Court, where Pender’s latest motion seeking Rucci’s incarceration is pending.

Rucci has asked the county court to reconsider the foreclosure judgment.

Rucci has asked the court to set aside the original settlement agreement with Pender, claiming among other things that it was made under economic duress and that the foreclosure was issued without a hearing.

In a declaration to Judge John Durkin, Rucci claims that Pender changed the loan agreement requiring California Palms to pay $10,000 per month to reduce the principal of the loan, instead only the interest.

In the declaration, Rucci says in March of 2018 he informed Pender that he would refuse to sign loan documents because too much money was unaccounted for.

Rucci claims Pender submitted the loan agreement a week after the note, mortgage, and draft closing statement were signed and some of the funds had already been disbursed.

“Pender was seeking unbridled discretion, including the right to use $881,795 for an undefined variety of fees such as the management of the business,” wrote Rucci, who added that California Palms never received the $881,795.

Rucci states that he has continued to reject terms of the loan agreement.

In November, Rucci opposed the contempt motion, saying it was unfair to hold a hearing without giving him adequate time to respond as well as deny a motion to continue the hearing.  He also alleges that there was a failure to hold an evidentiary hearing on the contempt motion.

In January's request to Rucci to set aside the foreclosure order, Rucci argued that there was a failure to provide for the amount and priority of all lien

He also asked for the postponement of the court action until there are resolutions to Rucci's motion for reconsideration; a resolution to his motion for a stay and new trial; resolution of a motion to set aside the earlier settlement, and until his lawsuit alleging "corrupt activity" by Pender is resolved.

California Palms Recovery opened as a rehabilitation campus in 2017.

Formerly the Hotel California as guest lodgings, Rucci changed the name to California Palms Hotels and Suites after trademark issues arose.

Saying that he faced competition from nearby hotels with loyalty awards, Rucci announced in early 2017 that he planned to turn the facility into a rehab and recovery center.

Rucci states that converting the former hotel into a substance abuse treatment center for veterans doubled the value of the building and that he has invested millions and hired more than a dozen people.

If a judge did order Rucci’s incarceration, it wouldn’t be the first time.

In 2015, Judge David D’Apolito sentenced Rucci to 30 days in jail after being convicted of illegal liquor sales.

California Palms court filings from January 30, 2020 may be read below.