SunCor Development Co., the development division of Phoenix-based Pinnacle West Capital Corp., has been ordered to pay $28.6 million in damages to Wisconsin car dealer Bergstrom Automotive. The auto dealer won just over $2.88 million in actual damages and $25.76 million in punitive damages in the jury trial that was held in Maricopa County Superior Court.

SunCor Development officials say that they plan to ask the judge to set aside the verdict and, if that move fails, will an appeal to the state Court of Appeals.

The suit came about as a result of a development that Bergstrom built adjacent to SunCor's Tempe Autoplex, a commercial development in Tempe near Interstate 10 and Elliot Road that is a collection of auto dealerships and auto-related businesses.

SunCor Development misled Bergstrom about a project it was planning across from the Autoplex, says Mike Manning, who represented Bergstrom in the case. Bergstrom was told that the project would house only used-car dealerships, Manning says.

In 1996, after Bergstrom paid $13.5 million to buy 11 acres to develop a used-auto dealership, SunCor began marketing the remaining 41 acres to office and light-industrial tenants, Manning says.

When Bergstrom learned that his dealership would be surrounded not by other dealerships, but by office and industrial buildings, he was upset and sought redress from SunCor, which paid him $1 million in 1997 as part of an early settlement.

In 1998, Bergstrom's dealership, part of the Driver's Mart used-car superstore chain, was purchased and closed when Driver's Mart was purchased by AutoNation, which had a massive dealership just down the road.

As a result of that closure, SunCor went to court to retrieve its $1 million from the earlier settlement, says SunCor's general counsel. The result of that suit was the court case that led to $28.6 million verdict.

According to internal SunCor documents, the developer never intended for the 52-acre project to be for used-car dealers only, Manning say.

Pinnacle West Capital Corp., a publicly traded corporation and owner of Arizona Public Service, is the state'sA largest utility company. SunCor develops both residential communities and commercial projects all over the Valley.