GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Universal's Bizarre Land Deal Heads for Showdown

ORLANDO-For eight years, Clarence Moore, a 92-year-old retired baker and citrus grove worker, has contended his granddaughter, Mary Jean Smith-Snagg of Oakland, CA forged his signature to a deed on his two-acre homestead where Universal Orlando plans to build a 70-acre, $100 million timeshare project and championship golf course.

Smith-Snagg has always denied the charge. She sold the property to Universal Orlando in 1993 for $1 million or $500,000 per acre ($11.48 per sf). Moore and his late wife Savannah didn’t get a penny, Moore’s lawsuit argues. Mrs. Moore died last year at 96.

Moore’s lawyers, who work on a contingency basis, have tried to overturn the land sale in various courts since 1994. This week, Orange Circuit Court Judge Joseph Baker in Orlando may resolve the controversy with a final decision in a non-jury bench trial that began July 1.