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Caliente alleges e-mail theft

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published March 22, 2007

LAND O'LAKES - A day before 41 home buyers sued Caliente Resorts, alleging a bait-and-switch scam, the nudist community's management had filed its own lawsuit to find out who stole and published confidential information from its computer server.

Caliente's lawsuit against "John Doe" was filed March 15 in Hillsborough County.

In January, an "unknown e-mail user" had allegedly stolen an internal, confidential e-mail from Caliente's computer server and sent it to Caliente homeowners, the lawsuit said.

"Doe disseminated the confidential information ... using a Yahoo! e-mail account, made to look as though Caliente intentionally published the confidential information," said Caliente lawyers Richard Petitt and Elizabeth Petterson, of the Tampa firm of Bricklemeyer Smolker & Bolves.

Whoever stole the information apparently sent it out using the e-mail address, "info_caliente@yahoo.com," and user name, "Caliente International."

The lawsuit paves the way for Caliente to subpoena Yahoo! to trace Doe's identity. Yahoo! officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

The lawsuit was filed in Hillsborough because the e-mails allegedly reached users in that county, among others, the lawsuit said.

"The stealing and publishing of said e-mail has damaged Caliente," Petitt and Petterson wrote, asking to recover damages and legal costs, among other remedies.

Petterson did not reply to a call for comment Wednesday. Petitt was not in the office, an assistant said.

An attorney for the 41 home buyers denied the two lawsuits were linked.

"I have no knowledge of the John Doe case," said John Lakin, of the Bradenton firm of Barnes Walker & Lakin. "I don't know what the owner of Caliente is up to."

The 41 had bought "casitas," or mobile homes, from Caliente. They accused Caliente of doubling the lot prices beyond what the company had first advertised, after locking the buyers into lease and purchase agreements.

Until March 2005, Caliente officials were allegedly telling buyers that the lots were available for about $50,000 each.

Caliente's lots went on sale in November 2006. By then, Caliente had raised the lot price to about $100,000.

In a letter to casita owners, Chuck Foster, Caliente's vice president, said the lot prices reflected real estate trends and noted that buyers had never contracted to lock in lower prices.

Lakin criticized Caliente for threatening to end the home buyers' right to use the resort's amenities in retaliation for their lawsuit.

"They're using intimidation and coercion," Lakin said. "The law is not designed to let people do that. You can't represent to people that you would sell at a certain price, and then raise prices and be unjustly enriched."

Foster did not respond to calls for comment Tuesday and Wednesday.

Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development in Pasco County. He can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 22, 2007, 00:07:27]