Nearly three years ago when he called Vilonia home, Ryan Saddler thought he was going to court-ordered mediation to resolve a financial dispute for work on the Stonebrook residential development near Maumelle.
Weeks later, Saddler was shocked to learn he and Saddler Construction Group were on the hook for a $400,000 consent judgment in Pulaski County Circuit Court. Saddler said that’s not his signature on the judgment entered Jan. 6, 2022, and that triggered an ongoing lawsuit against his attorney, Shane Henry.
Saddler’s complaint against Henry and his Conway law firm alleges fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, conversion and gross unethical conduct. The lawsuit outlines a case of legal malpractice that led Saddler to file a grievance with the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct.
The allegations in his lawsuit portray Henry as a business partner who looted Saddler Construction Group near Vilonia through control of its purse strings and tainted legal advice as his attorney. Saddler, who now lives in Rogers, and his legal team believe it could take a forensic accountant to unravel Henry’s movement of money.
“I can’t even file my taxes for 2021 and 2022 because I don’t even have access to my own damn books,” Saddler said.
So far, Henry has shielded from public view some documents sought and finally obtained by Saddler’s legal team. However, that protective order doesn’t cover business papers outside his control that bear his fingerprints and those of his law firm.
Bank records, corporate filings and other documents reflect his ownership in Saddler General Contractors, or that of his law firm, along with his active involvement in the financial affairs of the company.
According to Saddler, it was on the advice of Henry that the company’s bank business was moved from Fayetteville’s Arvest Bank to Conway’s Centennial Bank, where Henry was a member of the board of directors.
Henry’s father-in-law, James Hinkle, is a member of the board of directors at Home BancShares Inc., Centennial’s publicly traded parent company.
Henry is no longer a director at the $22.7 billion-asset bank. He was last listed as a board member during 2022.
His exodus from the board that year coincided with Saddler’s Aug. 8 lawsuit alleging fraud by Henry and Saddler’s Oct. 7 complaint to the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct. Henry couldn’t be reached for comment.
The professional conduct committee has developed a reputation for its molasses-slow investigation of attorneys, and the Henry case is no exception. Nothing has come of the complaint two years after Saddler filed his grievance:
“Shane A. Henry formed a company Saddler Family Construction later to become Saddler Construction Group LLC. SCG LLC, while in business, built multimillion dollars worth of projects. I, Ryan Saddler, did not form the company or handle any of the money while the company was in business. Shane Henry was responsible for any and all of the banking, assets, accounts, payments, etc. I never had access to the accounting software or checking account or check books. Upon discovery, Shane Henry has fraudulently signed my name to judgment, land deeds, PPP documents, many other items. Please see my current lawsuit for clarity.”
Little Rock attorney Floyd Healy, one of Saddler’s lawyers, inquired about the status of his client’s complaint against Henry to the Professional Conduct Committee via email on May 21:
“As you may recall, Ryan Saddler has filed a serious grievance against attorney Shane Henry. Over the past many months, we have been trying to build a substantial civil case against Mr. Henry and some of his many LLCs.
“To date, Mr. Henry has not properly responded to discovery nor has he sent any to us, which is very unusual. I believe we have many ethical violations that we can prove right now, but certainly more will be discovered should the judge grant our motion to compel.
“Please understand that I am not advancing this matter in order to gain some type of advantage in our pending litigation but rather to discharge my duty to the profession/public.”
Saddler also is suing Henry’s 501 Equipment LLC over transactions involving real estate and construction equipment. Saddler claims his signature on those deals aren’t his.
Those claims are echoed in a separate lawsuit filed against 501 Equipment by Mojuva LLC, led by homebuilder Brandon Hines.
Mojuva is the entity that obtained the controversial $400,000 consent judgment against Saddler and his company over disputed payments for work on the first phase of the Stonebrook neighborhood, a 21.7-acre development with 36 residential lots.
In its collection effort on the consent judgment, Mojuva is trying to get a court order to void a deed transferring ownership of a 1.68-acre parcel from Saddler Construction Group to 501 Equipment.
Mojuva alleges SCG was insolvent when the undeveloped property about 1.5 miles east of Conway was transferred. In its discovery, Mojuva questions the validity of Saddler’s signature on the deed conveying the property to 501 Equipment for no consideration.
Slow Court
The court action against Henry in two cases is also moving at a leisurely pace. Saddler’s fraud complaint remains in discovery, slowed by delaying tactics and other events.
At one point, Henry claimed attorney-client privilege for not fully responding to discovery by Saddler’s attorneys. That privilege evaporates when a client sues his former attorney.
Twenty months after the case was assigned to her, Judge Susan Weaver decided to recuse from the case on April 16. Her exodus followed Saddler’s attorneys filing a March 22 motion to compel Henry to respond to discovery.
“I found that very unusual and frustrating,” Healy said of the judge’s recusal so late in the case.
The progress of the Mojuva lawsuit against Henry’s 501 Equipment was delayed by less polished tactics. Henry, the registered agent and sole member of the limited liability company, went into bunker mode to avoid receiving the complaint.
That’s an off-the-rail response considering the primary function of a registered agent is to accept service of process notices for a business.
Mojuva’s lawyer, Raymond Harrill of Little Rock, recounted failed attempts during 2022 to reach Henry by phone and email along with sending a copy of the lawsuit by certified mail. Harrill also filed a sworn affidavit outlining 10 unsuccessful attempts by a process server to deliver the complaint to Henry in Conway at his office or residence.
Unsuccessful attempt No. 6 at 9:51 p.m. on Sunday, June 12, brought Henry’s wife, Katie, who is also a lawyer, into the narrative. Location: the Henry home in The Reserve at Centennial neighborhood.
“We pulled in at the residence as his wife was pulling into the driveway,” Beth Viele said in a sworn affidavit on June 13, 2022.
“I got out and spoke to her. I explained that I was a process server and that I needed to speak with Mr. Henry directly because he was the agent for service, therefore, he needed to be handed the papers directly.
“Despite his truck being in the driveway, she proclaimed that he wasn’t home. His truck was not in the driveway on the previous attempt (96 minutes earlier) nor was the vehicle she was driving. I told her I’d try him at his office the following day since it was clear he was trying to avoid service.”
On July 13, Clayborne Stone of the Mitchell law firm in Little Rock answered Mojuva’s complaint as 501 Equipment’s attorney although Henry wasn’t served papers until Aug. 15 at 7:15 a.m. at his house.
Troubling Questions
The makings of Saddler’s case against Henry began simmering in 2019 when he tried to get access to his company’s financial records.
Saddler couldn’t make sense of what Henry was telling him about the flow of money on the Conrad Court project, a 21-acre residential development in eastern Conway.
Saddler wanted to file a lien for unpaid infrastructure work to support 104 homesites, but he said Henry advised against it. According to Saddler, Henry told him everything would be squared away financially when the project was sold.
But Saddler said that didn’t happen after Conrad & Conrad Properties LLC, led by Bobby Conrad, sold it to Fayetteville’s Rausch Coleman Homes Little Rock LLC for nearly $2.6 million in April 2021.
Saddler alleges that his company is owed $650,000 from that deal and that Henry had a financial stake in Conrad’s project. Saddler later learned that Conrad was also Henry’s client.
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