A federal judge in Kalamazoo this week signed an order that will allow owners of condominium units in the troubled BayView project in the Village of Suttons Bay to intervene in a lawsuit filed last year by a mortgage investment firm hoping to collect on some of the $11.2 million owed by the developer.

Meanwhile, BayView developer Marcus W. Yono – believed to be in North Carolina – is no longer being represented by attorneys in several of the cases against him, with several of his lawyers having recently been granted motions to withdraw as Yono’s counsel for undisclosed reasons.

Yono’s principal business partner, Jeffrey R. Roth of Bloomfield Hills – whose family owned the former Frigid Food Products property on which BayView was constructed – claims he can’t appear in local circuit court because of a health condition. In fact, a hearing to consider whether Roth should be held in contempt of court for not appearing at a “debtor’s examination” with attorneys representing one of BayView’s creditors was adjourned this week – for a second time in as many months.

On Monday, in local Circuit Court, attorneys for a group of BayView condo owners will try to convince a judge that the condo owners should be allowed to hold their first-ever condo homeowners association meeting. On paper at least, Yono is still the sole officer of the condo homeowner’s association because Yono and Roth’s company, Suttons Pointe Development, L.L.C. still own a majority of all the unsold condo units in the development.

Also on Monday, a Circuit Court judge will consider a motion to declare Yono, Roth and their companies in default on yet another lawsuit they’re facing from Rieth-Riley Construction over unpaid bills associated with Phase II of the BayView project, Leelanau Hills. The BayView condos are located along M-22 north of M-204 in the Village of Suttons Bay. The Leelanau Hills phase is located up Scott Hill Road west of M-22.

The same mortgage speculation firm that is seeking to appoint a receiver for the BayView condos, Flathead Michigan-I, L.L.C., has also intervened in Rieth-Riley’s case against Leelanau Hills, hoping for a piece of whatever money is left over once the developers lose most of their property, presumably to Rieth-Riley and other creditors.

Meanwhile, the Leelanau County Treasurer is waiting to find out if either Leelanau Hills Development L.C.C., or Suttons Pointe Development, L.L.C. – or somebody – pays off more than $200,000 in 2007 property taxes owed by the developers. If the taxes aren’t paid by March 31, the county could take over ownership of all of the unsold BayView condo units as well as the Leelanau Hills property.