Ex-GlenArbor member sues golf club for $750,000

A former member of GlenArbor Golf Club in Bedford Hills claims the club sandbagged his right to a $215,000 refund.

Ronald Capossela of Somers is demanding more than $750,000 from GlenArbor in a lawsuit filed Dec. 10 in Westchester Supreme Court, alleging that the club broke a deal to refund his membership deposit.

Had Capossela known GlenArbor”™s “true intentions,” the complaint states, he “would not have joined the club, would not have paid the refundable membership deposit and would not have paid the membership dues after resigning.”

GlenArbor was founded in 2001, and the course was designed by Gary Player, the winner of three Masters Tournaments and two PGA Championships.

Player has called GlenArbor his masterpiece, and the club hosts the U.S. leg of his annual six-country Gary Player Invitational for charity.

Capossela joined in 2002 and agreed to pay a membership deposit of $229,513, including sales tax, in three annual installments.

The club agreed, according to the complaint, to fully refund the deposit by November 2032, the 30^th anniversary of his membership. If he resigned before the 30^th year, the club would refund the deposit or, if a new member had been accepted, pay a portion of the refund with the new member”™s fee.

Capossela resigned in May 2019 and requested the refund. GlenArbor has since accepted new members, according to the complaint, who were charged $98,000.

By Capossela”™s calculations, the club owes him $106,212 ”“ the new membership fee plus sales tax ”“ and then by 2032 would pay him the $123,300 balance of his deposit.

But GlenArbor “falsely represented” that Capossela must first continue paying dues for another four or five years, according to the complaint.

Capossela accuses the club of breach of contract and fraud. He is demanding $251,871 for the refundable deposit, the $22,359 in dues he has paid since resigning, and another $500,000 in punitive damages.

A GlenArbor official did not immediately respond to an email requesting the club”™s side of the story.

Somers attorney George J. Calcagnini represents Capossela.