About this column:
Off the Beaten Patch is a periodic column featuring news, notes and a lot of names of people who connect the dots in our communities. It is reported and written by St. Louis-area writer Geoff Whittington, who uses his connections to get the inside scoop on what's going on in the courtrooms, board rooms, lunch rooms and elsewhere around the region.This week's Off the Beaten Patch installment explores a lawsuit involving rental-property transactions and rumors of a new St. Louis brewery, both with ties to Clayton. Bellington’s Litz and Frontenac Bank sued for $2.5 million by St. Charles real estate developerBellington Realty co-owner Michael Litz of Ladue and his investment company Eighteen Investments, along with Frontenac Bank, are being sued for fraud by Treadstone Properties and its managing partner Samuel Webb Smith III.According to court documents, Smith claims Litz asked him to meet in 2009 to discuss conveying rental properties …
