SPRINGFIELD – What was once a partnership between a prospective Western Massachusetts casino company and a Palmer landowner has resulted in a suit and countersuit.

Mohegan Sun has filed a lawsuit against Northeast Realty Associates, LLC, of East Longmeadow, which owns land where the casino company proposed to build a gaming resort.

The Boston Globe reports Mohegan seeks at least $22 million, citing documents filed Monday in Hampden Superior Court.

The Connecticut casino sought to build a $1 billion resort casino on Thorndike Street (Route 32), but voters in Palmer rejected the proposal by 93 votes in November.

In February, Northeast announced its intention to file suit against Mohegan Resorts Massachusetts and Mohegan Sun Massachusetts. The Palmer company claimed Mohegan Sun of Connecticut breached an exclusivity agreement and a covenant of good faith by pursuing a casino in Revere.

The suit, filed on behalf of Northeast Realty Associates, seeks an unspecified amount.

Mohegan also alleges exclusivity was breached. In the suit filed Monday The Globe reports Mohegan accuses Northeast manager Leon Dragone of working against the casino campaign. “More than just working separately from the Mohegan campaign, Dragone was a hindrance,” The Globe reports Mohegan alleges in the suit.

In a February 20 article on Northeast Realty’s suit, The Republican’s Suzanne McLaughlin reported:

After the Palmer vote, Northeast Realty manager Leon Dragone of Longmeadow said, “They (Mohegan Sun) weren’t waiting for the final recount and yet they were telling us and the media they were, and also it took Suffolk Downs to confirm that they denied, that there were in discussions of partnership.”
Kevin Brown, Mohegan Tribal Council chairman, said the company remained committed to Palmer “right up to and beyond Nov. 5.”

He said there were never any considerations of other gaming options before the election, adding that Mohegan invested “tens of millions of dollars and many thousands of hours” in the project before voters in Palmer struck it down.

Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun announced they were partners on a casino proposal for Revere a day after the Palmer casino was rejected a second time in a recount.

Representatives of Mohegan Sun denied they had not seriously pursued the Palmer casino project, saying they spent $25 million since putting the 152-acre site in town in the exclusivity agreement in 2007.

Mohegan Sun continues to hold a 99-year lease on the Palmer property, and says it plans to explore non-casino development there.

After learning of Mohegan’s countersuit, Northeast told The Globe, "Blaming others for their failures is a typical Mohegan Sun . . . response."

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