Automobile innovator Malcolm Bricklin is seeking to evict a business associate from his northwestern Colorado ranch in a lawsuit that has brought bitter allegations from both sides. A jury trial in the Combined Courts of Rio Blanco County is scheduled to begin Wednesday in the civil suit brought by Bricklin Industries Inc. against John Avery. Bricklin, 49, wants to remove Avery, his wife and three children from a refurbished home on a ranch Bricklin owns nine miles south of here and about 225 miles west of Denver. Earlier this year, several small businesses filed liens of more than $100,000 against Bricklin-owned property in Colorado. Bricklin paid off his debts by early May, however, after he received the proceeds from the sale of his stake in Global Motors Inc. Global was the parent of Yugo America Inc., which introduced the cut-priced Yugo automobile to the United States in 1985. But Bricklin is best known for his failed attempt in the 1970s to popularize a plastic, gull-wing sports car bearing his name. In the latest dispute, he contends that Avery, 38, is not doing the job he was hired for. The millionaire had paid Avery $8,000 a month to act as ranch manager and also paid him as a real estate consultant. His suit follows a lawsuit filed by Avery earlier this year in federal court. Avery's suit contends that Bricklin has not lived up to terms of a verbal agreement under which Avery was allowed to buy 500 acres of Bricklin's 8,000-acre Franklin Ranch and invest $40,000 in a ranch house on the property. Bricklin says the agreements covered only rental of the property. Joseph Coleman, Avery's lawyer, said Bricklin cut off payments to his client and sought to get out of the verbal agreement in August 1987. ``When John filed a lawsuit, Bricklin responded by trying to take his home away,'' he said Tuesday. In an interview in the Rocky Mountain News on Tuesday, Bricklin said: ``People can't do the job, then they turn around and ask you for more money. It's something that wouldn't be happening if it wasn't me, because I've got some money. And if it wasn't me, it wouldn't be news.'' However, Coleman said bank accounts for the initial land purchase bear both men's names, indicating a partnership existed and supporting the verbal agreement.
