Retired NFL players Smith, Fuller grapple over loan

NORFOLK

On the football field, defensive ends don't square off against each other. But two retired pros are butting heads in court.

Bruce Smith has sued William Fuller for $170,000 for failing to repay three loans Smith made to Fuller, according to three lawsuits.

F. Sullivan "Sully" Callahan, attorney for Smith, said the dispute was not personal, but a business decision. The two men remain friends, he said.

Smith, a Hall of Fame defensive end, and Fuller, a former all-pro defensive end, are from Hampton Roads and have developed real estate since retiring from professional football.

Hampton city officials announced in May 2009 that Smith and Fuller would be partners in a redevelopment project in the city's Buckroe section on the Chesapeake Bay. The two were to operate under a company known as Buckroe Beach Development LLC.

Smith filed three suits against Fuller and development partnerships in Norfolk Circuit Court last month. No trial date has been set.

The suits claim that Smith made three loans on April 15, 2009, to Fuller and his companies: $102,500 to Fulco Construction, $37,500 to River Edge Road LLC, and $30,000 to Buckroe Beach Development LLC.

The loans were due July 1, 2009. Smith charges in the suit that Fuller has refused to pay.

Fuller did not answer calls to his home, and the phone for his company, Fulco Construction Inc., was disconnected. Attorneys for the development companies did not return phone calls.

Vanessa Valldejuli, senior deputy city attorney for Hampton, said Fuller was part of the original discussions to develop the property but was never formally involved.

The city signed a development agreement with Smith in May to develop a 1.5-acre city-owned site near Buckroe Beach. Valldejuli said the city is working with Smith on the project.

The city's master plan for the area calls for a mixture of homes, condominiums and parks to replace blighted and vacant property.

Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2341, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com