A former sales representative for The Villages is attempting to protect some of her assets from garnishment. Some of those assets are tucked away in a bank owned by The Villages.
Earlier this year in a federal trial in Tampa, The Villages won a $603,700 judgment against Jason Kranz and Christopher Day, former top producers for Properties of The Villages, who broke away in December 2019 to form KD Premier Realty. They lured away fellow Properties of The Villages representatives, including Nanette Elliott and Angie Taylor, who were also defendants in the legal case.
After the judgment was issued, Properties of The Villages filed legal action to garnish assets of the former sales representatives.
Taylor and her husband Kirkland Malone, who was not named in The Villages’ lawsuit, are arguing that they have retirement accounts and other assets that should not be part of the attempted garnishment by The Villages.
An attorney for Properties of The Villages on Friday filed a sworn answer to Taylor’s claim of exemption, asserting that his client “has been deprived of a sufficient opportunity to analyze and answer Taylor’s claimed exemptions.”
Ironically, some of the accounts for which Taylor has claimed exemption are at The Villages-owned Citizens First Bank.
“As to Citizens First Bank, counsel for Properties of The Villages has obtained information from Citizens First Bank’s counsel indicating that one of Taylor’s bank accounts is titled in the name of Taylor, her purported spouse, and Taylor’s mother, and therefore such account is not tenancy by the entirety property. Moreover, although Taylor’s attorney has now asserted via email (subsequent to filing the Claim) that such account is exempted from garnishment because it contains money from a pension, bank statements provided by Taylor’s attorney do not indicate deposits of pension funds and Citizens First Bank’s attorney has represented that his current understanding is that the balance in this account does not include protected funds.
Taylor’s mother, Jan Hickerson, also sold for Properties of The Villages. She was originally named in the lawsuit, but settled out of court with Properties of The Villages ahead of the trial.
On the witness stand at the trial, Taylor noted that she owns several rental homes in The Villages.
