Heading for an icy showdown? Condos vs. the energy company

Dan Mather loves the view from his Minneapolis condo at the Pinnacle, the sprawling complex along the Mississippi River. He loves the fact that he can walk downtown or to nearby restaurants. If he wants, he can go to the complex's gym, or even go for a dip in the indoor pool.

But if the real estate company that sells heat to the Falls and Pinnacle (from the adjacent Riverplace complex) follows through on a recent threat, Mather says that swim might be a little nippy as early as this week.

The company, Sentinel Real Estate and its affiliate, Energy Center LLC, have threatened to start shutting off the heat in the buildings, which house about 250 condos, starting with the pool, he told me. Mather, president of the condo association board, says it's in retaliation for them winning a lawsuit over whether the condo association could sever a long contract with the provider.

It's good fodder for a columnist: Evil Energy Supplier pulls a fast one, turns retirees out into the cold.

Not so fast, says Evil Lawyer (who actually seems like a pretty good guy). The association terminated them way back in May, and besides, Mather said in a deposition that the condo has a backup plan for heat (he does).

So, who is bluffing? Mather, a glass artist by trade, or the energy company's lawyer, Howard Roston? Both? Most important, will we find people frozen to their beds in condos with lovely views later this week?

Roston replied with a nice bit of legalese (slightly edited):

So, they don't plan to deep-freeze the seniors, but they don't want to rule it out, either.

Many of the facts are undisputed. The contract with Energy Center was signed by the company that owned the buildings before they were converted to condos. The contract had the new condo owners beholden to Energy Center until 2024. The association argued it could nullify the contract because of a housing stipulation know as the "brother-in-law" clause, which was passed to prohibit the owner of a structure from saddling subsequent owners with unreasonable obligations that may have been signed simply to enrich, say, a relative. Under the law, the condo owners had time to review the contract and decide if it was best for them.

Mather said the Falls and Pinnacle association decided it would be $100,000 cheaper per year to provide its own energy.

Roston said the Minnesota law didn't apply to this deal.

The judge ruled they could, indeed, sever the contract.

But Sentinel appealed the judge's decision. Meanwhile, they said, be careful what you ask for. They told Mather they would begin shutting off the heat during what has been the coldest week of the year.

Minnesota law prohibits energy companies from turning off the heat on individuals who can't pay their bills during winter months, but Mather said it doesn't apply to private deals like this one.

Talking to Mather you might think he's a lawyer, but he just happens to oversee a condo association that has had its share of legal battles. In November, it finally settled a lengthy suit over water damage with the previous owner, Crescent Heights.

"I really thought potholes would be the biggest part of the job," Mather said.

After successfully ending the two suits, Mather started thinking that the little guys do win sometimes. Then Sentinel employees came around and started marking the heat shutoff valves, which he dutifully photographed.

Not to mention their homes.

"We believe that the association board is not acting in the best interest of its residents," Roston said.

I made a few calls to see if a private heat provider could really shut off heat to a building where people live. Nobody seemed to know.

So, Mather will keep checking the pool. And I'll keep checking back to see if Sentinel is really going to throw people out into the cold.