California developer plans appeal of Nevada sanction

A California real estate developer adamantly plans to appeal a $184,812 fine levied by Nevada regulators in connection with a south Reno transaction.

The Nevada Real Estate Commission decided that Commonwealth Companies of Temecula, Calif., and two of its executives illegally handled a real estate deal without a Nevada license.

The state board ordered that Commonwealth and the two executives President Martin Hudler and broker Norman Holl pay a fine equal to the amount of the commission that they collected.

Hudler said last week that his company and the two executives strongly disagree with the commission's reading of Nevada law. They'll ask for a new hearing before the commission, he said, and will take the question to the courts if necessary.

The controversy centers on the July 2004 sale of land near the new Bishop Manogue High School in south Reno.

The state real estate commission said that a company created by Hudler, Arrow Creek Partners LLC, paid $6.16 million to the Roman Catholic diocese of Reno for land that wouldn't be needed for the school.

A business park is under development of the land.

Holl, who is licensed as a real estate broker in California, was listed on the purchase agreement as the broker for Arrow Creek Partners.

When the deal closed, Commonwealth was paid a commission of $184,812.

Gina Session, a deputy attorney general, said a complaint was filed by the broker who represented the diocese in the sale. State officials, she said, determined that neither Commonwealth, Hudler nor Holl was a licensed broker in Nevada when the deal closed.

Hudler contended last week, however, that Nevada law clearly allows brokers in the state to pay commissions to brokers in other states, and Commonwealth was working with a broker in Nevada.

If Commonwealth can't get a new hearing before the commission, he said the company plans an appeal to what he called "a court of competent jurisdiction."

Session said the commission's action should serve as a warning to other unlicensed brokers that the state will come after them.

Nevada law, she said, allows the real estate commission to require that unlicensed brokers cough up the amount they're paid in commissions.