U.S. Rep. Tom Graves' attorney says the disputed loan agreement between his client and a Northwest Georgia bank is not valid because the bank should have known the Georgia congressman couldn't repay the money and it cut the lawmaker some slack when his company couldn't make payments.
In court documents, attorney Simon Bloom contends Bartow County Bank never should have issued Graves and his business partner a loan, citing statements in a deposition in which a bank official admitted knowing the partners did not have the money to guarantee the loan.
Graves and state Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, took out a loan to go into the hotel business, running the Oglethorpe Inn off Interstate 75 in Calhoun. They were sued by the bank in January 2010, with the suit alleging that Graves' and Rogers' motel and hospitality company defaulted on a loan for $2.25 million.
The two filed a counterclaim in March 2010 stating that the bank had allowed Tich Hospitality to refinance the loan in November 2009, but then went back on its word.