Free Motion in Limine - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 Dan W. Goldiine (#018788)
_ , Adam Lang\(#022545)
2 SNELL & ILMER 1..1..i>.
One Arizona Center _
3 400 East Van Buren Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004-2202
4 Telephone: (602) 382-6000
Facsimile: (602) 382-6070 .
. 5 dgoldtine swlaw.com .
rerickson swlaw.com ‘
6 alang@sw aw.com
Attorne s for Plaintiff and Counterdefendant _
Y
7 Meritage Corporation and Third Party Defendants
Steve Hilton and John Landon
8 .
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9
FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
10 Meritage Homes Corporation, a Maryland
I I Corporation, formerly d/b/a Meritage Corporation, Case No. CV—04-0384-PHX-ROS
Hancock—MTH Builders, lnc., an Arizona
12 corporation, Hancock-MTH Communities, Inc., an DECLARATION OF JIM
Arizona corporation, and currently dfb/a Meritage ARNESON
E fg 13 Homes Construction, Inc., an Arizona corporation,
E | wig`: and Meritage Homes of Arizona, Inc., an Arizona
;:_· Egg 14 corporation, _
3:;;; (Assigned to the
15 Plaintiffs, Honorable Roslyn O. Silver)
E ’ 16 V'
cn if
6 Ricky Lee Hancock and Brenda Hancock, -
17 husband and wife; Gregory S. Hancock and
Linda Hancock, husband and wife, Rick
lg Hancock Homes L.L.C., an Arizona limited -
liability company; RLH Development, L.L.C.,
F9 an Arizona limited liability com[pany; and J2H2, .
20 L.L.C., an Arizona limited liabi ity company,
Defendants. `
21
22 Jim Arneson states as follows:
23 l. I am at least 18 years of age, and l make this Declaration in the above-
24 captioned matter. This Declaration supplements my deposition testimony.
25 2. While both Greg Hancockand I were employed by Beazer at its Hancock
26 Homes Division and while Greg Hancock was my superior there, Greg Hancock stated
27 that he was unhappy and was going to leave and start a new homebuilding company. ` ‘
28 Although he did not ask me to join him, I informed Greg Hancock that I was interested in
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l joining him at his new company. Ultimately, I also left Beazer and then joined Greg
U ‘ H 2 Hancock at "Hancock Communities," which competed against Beazer’s "I-Iancock
3 Homes."
4 3. Based on my experience at Hancock Homes, Hancock Communities and the
5 Hancock Communities Division of Meritage and in the homebuilding industry generally, I
6 believe that some customers are likely confused between "Hancock Communities," a
7 Hancock home or a Hancock Communities homes, "Hancock Homes," and "Rick
8 Hancock Homes."
9 4. During 2001 and 2002, Greg Hancock did not inform me of his activities
· l0 with respect to Olympic Properties, Olympic Development, West Wind, Riata West, King
l l Ranch and Fox Hunt.
l2 5. On the other hand, while employed by Meritage and after he quit, Greg
sg { I3 Hancock performed land development activities with respect to Sundance and TASH.
· l4 Hancock performed these activities openly and did not conceal these activities from
_ l5 Meritage or me. !\,
E r 16 6. At a 2002 thrown by RBF Engineering Bob Waggoner
vn . ·
6 17 indicated that he was doing some work for David Comwall and Greg Hancock in
l8 Buckeye. l had no idea this was happening and I responded half—jokingly (and not A
19 knowing the specific terms of Greg Hancock’s Employment Agreement) that you had
V 20 better keep that quiet. Shortly after that discussion, Greg Hancock told me that he would
2l bring legal action me personally if I made any statements about what was discussed with
I _ 22 Mr. Waggoner because that would potentially cost him a lot of money from Meritage.
23 7. In about late 2002, during a discussion about a land parcel deal for .
24 Meritage, Greg Hancock stated: "How would I benefit from buying this parcel of land — I
25 won’t be here long enough."
8 26 8. During his tenure at Meritage during 2002, I became concemed about Greg .
27 Hancock’s attitude and apparent lack of interest. I prepared a memo that I sent to him.
28 That memo reads: "The real reason for writing this letter is to get my friend Greg back in
Ifvp RT . I
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ase 2:04-cv-00384-R S Document 435-8 Filed 02/23/2007 Page 3 of 70
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A 1 the business of building and maintaining the team. You have bailed out of most team
‘ 2 2 building activities. No more parties (except Christmas), PCBC, picnics, trips etc. If others
3 set up any of these you aren't interested in being a part of them. I know your life hasn't
4 been fun recently but you have many friends in this company who have shown their
5 support to you. In the recent past you have shown or stated your lack of interest in
6 working at all. I have told you on several occasions that we need you. This is my official
7 written request."
8 9. Greg Hancock’s primary duties at Hancock Communities before Meritage’s
9 acquisition included the acquisition of raw land so that land could be made into finished
10 lots for home sales. Based on my experience and discussions with Greg Hancock, one of .
ll Greg Hancock’s primary duties at Meritage was the acquisition of raw land for Meritage’s
12 Hancock Communities Division for the purpose of increasing the Division’s inventory of
E I 13 finished lots so that it could sell homes in the future, such as 2004, 2005 and 2006. Greg
_ 14 Hancock’s position was that the ongoing success of a homebuilder is wrapped up in the
_A 15 following: "It’s all about you land position."
3%) I 16 Pursuant to the Rules of Civil Procedure, I declare under the penalty ofperjury and
5 17 under penalty of possible sanctions, that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on
18 June 14,2006. J E
19 ` 2
20 Jim At eson
21 \ `
22
23 U .
24 l
. · 25
26
27 `
_ 28
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