HANNIBAL, MO. -- A lawsuit involving two men with ties to the Hannibal Cavemen baseball team remains in limbo after one of the defendants again failed to show up for a hearing.
Authorities have been trying to serve former Cavemen owner Larry Owens with a copy of the lawsuit for more than three months. He apparently moved from his Camden County home in June.
At least three unsuccessful attempts have been made to find Owens.
A hearing Friday was postponed until January Sixth.
F & M Bank and Trust of Hannibal is asking a judge to order Owens and current Cavemen co-owner Robert Hemond to pay back more than $700,000 in loans and interest it claims they owe.
Records show Hemond got his summons, as did two of the team’s former ownership companies, Clemens Field Development and Hannibal Sports and Entertainment Group.
The bank claims the defendants owe $707,328.28 of a $2.2 million loan dated August 17th of 2009.
It also wants to foreclose on land at the west side of the Clemens Field complex that it says Hannibal Sports and Entertainment Group deeded to Clemens Field Development.
The lawsuit claims Owens and Hemond executed a deed of trust on the land as security for the loan.
In addition, the bank is asking for interest payments of 52 dollars and 46 cents per day since August First.
The Hannibal City Council in May authorized F & M to sell off team assets. Owens then filed lawsuits of his own to dissolve the companies that controlled the team at the time and asked a judge to appoint a receiver to run the Cavemen. The request was denied.
A new ownership group called Hannibal Cavemen Baseball LLC was announced in June.
It included Hemond, Hannibal nursing home executive Rick DeStefane and former Major League Baseball players Ryan Klesko and Woody Williams.
The lawsuit was filed in August.
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