U.S. Rep. Tom Graves will have to wait until September before he gets the chance to officially tell his side of the story in a business lawsuit involving a Gordon County motel.
He was scheduled for a deposition Tuesday, but one of the attorneys involved asked the deposition be postponed because of a death in his family, according to Tim Baker, Graves' chief of staff.
Baker said the deposition would be pushed into September, but he did not know a date and could not comment further Wednesday.
Graves, a Republican from Ranger, Ga., was scheduled to give a deposition in Atlanta as part of a lawsuit filed by Bartow County Bank against him, state Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, and a company they ran called Tich Hospitality.
The suit alleges that a business run by Graves and Rogers defaulted on a loan for $2.25 million and that Graves moved some of his property to a trust to make it more difficult for the bank to recoup the debt.
A counterclaim filed by Graves and Rogers in March states the bank had allowed the company to refinance the loan in November, but then reneged on the agreement.
Graves won a special election runoff in June to fill former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal's unexpired term, then won the Republican primary for the full term in a runoff Aug. 10.
The lawmakers initially were scheduled to give depositions June 30, but the date was rescheduled for Tuesday. A deposition is sworn, recorded testimony that is used during the fact-finding portion of a case.
Documents filed under the Tich name with the Secretary of State's Office indicate the company's address is the same as the Oglethorpe Inn on Red Bud Lane in Calhoun, Ga. Rogers has said the loan was for the purchase of the inn. Graves signed 2008 documents as the "office manager" for Tich.
Baker said Graves was spending time with his family and was unavailable for comment Wednesday. The congressmen did not return messages left with his staff members last week.
Rogers was traveling, but he sent a brief written statement through staffers.
"The deposition involves a business in which I have no ownership interest," he said, adding that he had no additional comment on the case.
Rogers has said that he relinquished his stake in the property before the suit.
Staff members at Rogers' office said they had no more information on the case and that it was a "personal legal matter."
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