Nov. 7—Union Carbide Corporation has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it for its decision to void a contract to sell a 3,900-acre tract of land for a planned spaceport to Camden County.

Camden County officials filed a lawsuit in July against Union Carbide (UCC) after the company announced its decision not to sell the land in the wake of a countywide referendum where more than 70% of voters voted to prohibit commissioners from spending any more money on the project.

After voters approved the referendum in March prohibiting commissioners from closing on the deal, lawyers argued Union Carbide could not convey the property to the county.

The motion claims Union Carbide kept thousands of acres off the market for nearly seven years to give Camden County exclusive rights to buy the land. During that time, the company agreed to extend the option to buy multiple times.

If the company would have proceeded with the sale after the referendum it "would have required UCC to gamble on the county commission's legal arguments," according to the motion.

Lawyers for Union Carbide argued the county's appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court won't be determined for months, putting the company at the risk of losing the property "to a party with no authority to buy it and future litigation with the county and its taxpayers over such a sale."

"Georgia law did not require UCC to sell the property to the county in those circumstances," the company argued.

Despite the referendum, the commission sued Union Carbide to force the sale or for damages for failing to do so. The county claims the refusal to sell the property is a breach of the option agreement and is claiming "other unfounded theories seeking recovery of payments the county made for UCC to keep the property off the market for years and give the county the exclusive right to purchase the property."

"The lawsuit is unfounded and should be dismissed," company lawyers argued.

The original agreement was for two years, which required Union Carbide to keep the tract off the market.

It took nearly seven years for the county to get a nod from the Federal Aviation Administration to approve a launch operator's license. It was approved under the condition the county close on the deal to buy the tract for the launch site. That meant extending the option agreement four times.

The county redacted the amendments to the option agreement in the lawsuit that could have shown terms of the agreement.

According to the motion, commissioners sent a letter to Union Carbide "in defiance of the referendum" on April 12, the day before the option period between the company and county expired. The county attempted to "exercise the county's option to buy the property under the option agreement and requiring UCC to sell the property within 90 days."

Union Carbide lawyers argued the county's authority to have an option agreement and purchase the property stood repealed by the referendum.

"The county expressly repudiated the option agreement through the referendum, which rendered the county without authority and unable to purchase the property under the terms of the option agreement," the motion concluded. "Under Georgia law, that repudiation absolved UCC of completing the pre-closing actions and conveying the property to the county. Therefore, the complaint does not plead a breach of contract claim against UCC, and as a result, the BOC (board of commissioners) has no grounds for pursuing specific performance and damages claims against UCC on the county's behalf."