Eden Place lawsuit seeks to claim land on municipal golf course
North Lakeside Drive property owner says an 82-year-old reverter clause grants him ownership of 7 acres on the Lake Worth Beach Golf Club's north end
AN EDEN PLACE homeowner has filed a lawsuit that could reshape the north end of Lake Worth Beach’s municipal golf course.
If John Henry Paladino prevails, he would recoup up to 7 acres of the golf course, a 200-foot-wide swath from the back of his North Lakeside Drive home east to the Lake Worth Lagoon, along the south side of 16th Avenue North.
“It’s a novel case. It’s an interesting case, legally,’’ said Paladino’s attorney, John Jorgensen, who filed the suit July 1 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
While the legal challenge comes as the city is celebrating the 100th birthday of the Lake Worth Beach Golf Club, which opened with nine holes on Nov. 12, 1926, the complaint focuses on the expanded 18-hole course that opened Nov. 6, 1948.
Not long before the course was expanded, the land making up its northern end was owned by Tillie B. Lloyd, who inherited the North Lakeside Drive house, built in 1927, from her mother. On June 23, 1944, Lloyd conveyed the 7 acres to the city with certain restrictions, according to the suit.
Among those restrictions: the city had to construct a golf course on the land “within one year after the termination of the present war” — World War II, which ended Sept. 2, 1945.
Paladino’s lawsuit contends that work on the course began long after September 1946, voiding the deed and reverting the land back to the property’s owners. A Lake Worth Herald story suggests work on the course started in the summer of 1948.
The reverter clause was passed on to subsequent owners of the property, including Paladino’s family, who bought the home in 1995.
Apparently none of the property’s previous owners since 1948 sued the city for violating the reverter clause.
Paladino, who operated the Blue Front Bar & Grill restaurant at 1132 N. Dixie Highway from 2012 to 2018, brought the reverter clause to the city’s attention not long after the property was deeded to him in 2025 by his father, David Paladino. The city rejected his claims.
Now, it’s up to Circuit Judge Scott Kerner to decide.
“Obviously, the city will disagree with our position,’’ Jorgensen said. “The deeds say what they say and it will be up to the court to determine the rights of the parties.’’
Mayor Betty Resch said the city does not comment on pending litigation.
One defense the city could raise is laches, a legal principle that prevents a person from pursuing a claim if they waited an unreasonable length of time to make the claim, to the detriment of the opposing party.
It’s unclear how a ruling for Paladino would affect the course.
“I’m confident (Paladino) would be willing to negotiate with the city should he prevail in the action,’’ Jorgensen said, hinting at a potential lease to allow the land’s continued use as a golf course.
“But if the court rules in our favor, John Paladino will own those lots which (today) are part of the golf course.’’
City officials have been saying the aging golf course, susceptible to flooding and sea level rise, needs a major makeover. But they’ve said they can’t afford to pay for the improvements.
In early 2025, an investment group proposed a multimillion-dollar redevelopment that included transforming the golf course into a world-class course redesigned by Jack Nicklaus. The Copperline Partners plan was withdrawn in October of that year.
David Paladino, John Henry’s father, is a developer who in the 1980s led the Downtown/Uptown project in West Palm Beach that cleared out a blighted, crime-ridden area and laid the groundwork for what became CityPlace. He and his partner, Henry Rolfs, also donated land for the construction of the Kravis Center.
What an absolute jerk. He inherited this home from his Dad, and now he's insisting that because our country was (of all things) too busy organizing and fighting WWII instead of building a G-D Golf Course, that an agreement that everyone that came before him is worthless?
How do you look your neighbors in the eye after doing something like this? Honest to God, how f'n cruel, how f'n greedy, must you be?
John, if you're reading this, your father would be ashamed of you.
The previous homeowners were aware of this and didn’t do anything, you know why? Because they cared about their community and were not money grubbing scumbags. I think it’s time for this guy to find a different town in which to live, we don’t want to be extorted by our neighbors.