Brian Owendoff, the real estate broker forced out in 2011 as Portland head of commercial brokerage CB Richard Ellis after admitting he anonymously wrote hundreds of often caustic comments on OregonLive about high-profile politicians and businesspeople, is now the target of a lawsuit filed by his next employer.
Brian Owendoff
In a complaint filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Capacity Commercial Group alleges that Owendoff, who it hired as an independent contractor to sell and lease commercial and industrial real estate, conducted side deals without the company's knowledge in violation of his employment agreement. Capacity Commercial is requesting $425,000 in damages.
Capacity Commercial also accused Owendoff of sending emails laced with threats and vulgarities after the company found out about the side deals and terminated his contract.
"Morally bankrupt clueless lying Mormon dies immediately from bankruptcy & greed," Owendoff allegedly wrote, according to the complaint, in an attempt to target a Capacity Commercial principal who is a practicing member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Owendoff then followed up with an all-caps exclamation that can't be printed here and made "slanderous allegations concerning the marital fidelity of one of the [Capacity Commercial] principals," the lawsuit alleges.
- Read the complaint. (Warning: the complaint contains brief vulgarity.)
Owendoff made headlines in 2011 after the neighborhood newspaper The Northwest Examiner revealed him to be the man behind "Acta Non Verba," an OregonLive commenter who predicted in one of his more than 200 comments that then-Portland Mayor Sam Adams would end up "pumping gas at the Chevron." The post also called Adams one of "the weakest leaders the Rose City has ever seen."
He also targeted then-Governor-elect John Kitzhaber and lamented the left-wing politics that he felt dominate the Portland area.
At the time, Owendoff was the managing director of the Portland arm of CB Richard Ellis, now simply called CBRE, one of the city's biggest commercial real estate firms. Adams had appointed him to city task forces. Owendoff admitted to making the OregonLive comments and said he realized "that the tone and words in some of the postings were neither polite, respectful or productive."
Four days after The Oregonian/OregonLive picked up on the story, Owendoff was no longer with CBRE. He formed a solo practice, BMO Commercial Real Estate, and resurfaced seven months later at Capacity Commercial.
Owendoff worked with Capacity for nearly four years, until Capacity discovered in June that he "was knowingly and willfully soliciting and engaging in professional real estate activity outside of his work for [Capacity Commercial] and in violation of the terms of the agreement," the lawsuit alleges.
"At that time, [Capacity Commercial] properly terminated the agreement with Owendoff and demanded payment for the portions of revenue which should have flowed to [the company] from Owendoff's side deals," the complaint reads. "Owendoff to date has yet to repay any portion of that revenue."
Joshua P. Stump, an attorney with the Lake Oswego-based Buckley Law firm, is representing Capacity Commercial in the lawsuit. He said his clients wanted to give Owendoff a second chance after he lost his job at CBRE.
"My clients were the kind of people who believe in second chances... all of which makes what they ended up discovering about him all that much more disappointing," Stump said.
The complaint alleges that Owendoff then contacted one of Capacity's clients, a limited liability company associated with Pearl West developer BPM Real Estate Group, "to tell them that he would no longer work with [them] unless [they] terminated their agreement" with Capacity Commercial.
The BPM-associated company did terminate its agreement with Capacity Commercial, "feeling they could not move forward without Owendoff's cooperation," the complaint alleges. BPM declined comment through a spokesman.
Around the same time, Owendoff started sending the threatening and profane emails, the lawsuit alleges.
"Out of concern for their safety and the safety of their employees and clients, [Capacity Commercial] reported the above described behavior to the Portland Police Department and contacted Owendoff through legal counsel asking that the emails stop," the complaint reads. "Despite these efforts, Owendoff continued sending threatening and harassing emails."
Multiple attempts to reach Owendoff for comment have been unsuccessful.
-- Luke Hammill
lhammill@oregonian.com
503-294-4029
@lucashammill