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# Investor dodges debt
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/investor-dodges-debt/
- Published: 2002-12-16T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T01:07:11.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Real estate investor William Haines, of Playa del Rey, was court-ordered last week to pay up on a $2,000 debt owed to West Los Angeles resident William Caskie.

Caskie told the court he loaned Haines $2,000 in March 2000 for a property deal in Mexico, with the promise that Haines would return $4,000 just three weeks later.

“He needed the cash so desperately, he offered to pay me back $4,000,” Caskie told the court. “I didn’t ask for (the additional $2,000).”

When the payment deadline came, Caskie said the money never came and Haines — who did not appear in court — couldn’t be reached.

Months later, he said he was contacted by an associate of Haines’who said Haines was “having trouble” with the Mexican government. The associate promised a check would arrive no later than October 2000.

But the money still didn’t come, so Caskie filed a lawsuit against Haines in small claims court.

Commissioner Donna Groman ruled against Haines for $2,544 — which equals the amount of the loan plus interest charges over the past 20 months and court costs. She did not award Caskie the extra $2,000 he claimed was owed to him.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 16, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121602.pdf?ref=smdp.com)