Errict Rhett, a former UF standout running back and NFL veteran, will lose his house and owe just more than $100,000 to a local community association, according to court documents released Tuesday.
Alachua County Eighth Judicial Circuit judge Monica Brasington ruled Thursday that Rhett intended to commit fraud by transferring the deed of his house, located in the Woodfield neighborhood, from his nonprofit corporation, The Errict Rhett Foundation, to his construction company, Errict Rhett Construction, according to the documents.
The legal battle between Rhett, who was enshrined in the University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005 as UF’s career rushing leader, and the Woodfield Community Association began in August 2013 when the association filed a lawsuit against Rhett for violating the conditions and restrictions mandated by the subdivision, citing dead grass, rotted wood on the house and an “unsightly 25-foot light pole” as evidence, according to court documents.
On March 9, Alachua County Eighth Judicial Circuit Victor Hulslander ordered Rhett to pay the community association $4,647.75 in taxable costs and $64,522 in attorney’s fees, for a total sum of $69,169.75, according to the documents.
However, less than 20 minutes before the judge’s ruling, Rhett filed a pair of liens on the house - one dated July 15, 2013, valued at $127,000 from E. Rhett Construction, owned by Rhett, and another dated June 6, 2012, and valued at $395,000 from Alco Construction Corp., owned by Rhett’s brother, Michael, according to the documents.
The pair of claims would ensure that Rhett wouldn’t have to pay the amount owed to the Woodfield Community Association, according to the documents.
Rhett also filed a warranty deed — dated July 15, 2013, but filed March 9 — transferring the deed of the home from The Errict Rhett Foundation to E. Rhett Construction, according to the documents. The house had been listed as one of two offices for the foundation since 2006, a year after Rhett purchased the house from former Florida wide receiver Willie Jackson for$100, according to the documents.
On May 11, the association filed a motion against the foundation, alleging the liens and warranty deed were invalid and issuing a Sheriff’s levy, asking the Alachua County Sheriff to sell Rhett’s house to pay the $69,169.75 sum owed. Woodfield also alleged in the motion that Rhett filed the liens to avoid paying the sum owed, according to court documents.
Just over a month later, on June 16, The Errict Rhett Foundation, which specializes in housing and scholarship, suggested bankruptcy, which was dismissed after Rhett failed to meet with creditors, according to the documents.
Throughout the court proceedings, Rhett missed at least two court hearings and a deposition, resulting in a $3,000 fine, according to a source who attended the hearing on August 27. Rhett’s attorney, Brett Elam, quit after the hearing, according to a source at the hearing.
Rhett still wasn’t present in court Thursday when Brasington ruled the liens and the warranty deed invalid because the notary stamp, reportedly stamped by Jerome Cooper, appeared to have been altered on all three documents.
As a result of the judge’s ruling,the Sheriff levy was granted and the Woodfield Community Association can move to sell Rhett’s house to pay the sum owed. Rhett now owes just over $100,000 after recent attorney fees of $33,066.43 were added to the original sum owed.
Rhett, a native of Pembroke Pines, played for the Gators and coach Steve Spurrier from 1990 to 1993.
He finished his UF career with 4,163 yards rushing and 34 touchdowns, breaking the record held by NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith.
Rhett was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in 1991 and 1993 and was named the Most Valuable Player in the Gators’ 41-7 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers in the 1994 Sugar Bowl. Rhett was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second round of the 1994 NFL Draft, where he played seven seasons before retiring.
Staff Writer Emily Cochrane contributed to this report.
Contact Graham Hall at ghall@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @Graham311.
