Two months ago, the county awarded John Vontran a sweetheart land deal that promised to help revitalize a section of Dundalk.

Today the Perry Hall resident, the former supplier of video poker devices turned developer, is having trouble paying the bills and is being sued by his business partner.

Carroll Bond, of Hunt Valley, has filed suit against Vontran in Baltimore County Circuit Court. The pair are business partners in a failing development in the Canton section of Baltimore.

Bond is seeking court-ordered arbitration claiming that Vontran failed to make a required $400,000 payment to the company they formed to pay for expenses. Bond also is demanding to know what happened to an $8,000 payment he placed in the company's bank account that was to be used for mortgage payment on the Canton development their company was completing.

"Mr. Vontran knew, or should have known, that making the payment was critical for the success of a real estate company," Stacie Tobin, Bond's attorney, wrote in the suit.

Bond alleges that the payment was not made, and the money he deposited is no longer in the bank account.

Tobin did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

Michael Gallerizzo, a Baltimore attorney representing Vontran, declined to comment on the case.

The legal wrangling between Bond and Vontran grows out of a judgment against the pair and a development company, Dillon VAT, in which they are partners.

Dillon VAT defaulted on an agreement to pay F.M. Harvey Construction nearly $322,000 by March 2007, according to papers filed in Circuit Court.

The pair hired the Hunt Valley construction company to build several upscale townhouses and a 30-unit condominium complex at site of the old National Bohemian along Dillon and South Conkling streets in Canton.

The houses were built. Only a steel skeleton sits on the site of the future condos, Harvey said.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge ruled that Bond, Vontran and their company owe F.M. Harvey Construction more than $437,000, plus $88.17 in interest per day beginning Oct. 13.

"I don't think the intent is to pay us," Frank Harvey, president F.M. Harvey Construction, said in an interview last week.

Harvey said the debt on the property is more than what the property is worth, lessening the chances he will see any of the money he is owed.

In September, the council approved the sale of a 9.8 acre tract of land in Dundalk formerly known as the Yorkway Apartments for $1.6 million to Vontran. The county had spent nearly $21 million to buy the property and raze the buildings.

Vontran, in an interview after that vote, said the Dundalk property would be his largest venture and referred to the Canton development as one of his credentials.

County officials expressed little concern over what the case might mean for the sale of the Yorkway property, which is not scheduled to be completed until after the first of the year.

"We have no reason to believe (Vontran) will not perform on this deal," said Don Mohler, a county spokesman.

Mohler said the property will not change hands until Vontran pays for it.

Should the deal fall through, county officials might hold off on attempting to sell the property again until the economy improves, Mohler said.

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