Blue Mountain Creamery owner loses lawsuit, ordered to pay previous owner $443,809

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The owner of a Colorado Springs ice cream shop now owes the store's previous owner more than $400,000.

The judgment is the result of a lawsuit against Forsham Williams Jr., a local businessman who KRDO has covered in the past.

The former owner of Blue Mountain Creamery, Mike Van Schooneveld sold his shop to Williams in April of 2022, but filed a lawsuit in February of 2023 saying that he has never been paid what was promised.

After a months-long legal battle over the sale, Van Schooneveld is warning others about doing business with Williams.

"Definitely don't do that," Van Schooneveld told KRDO.

Williams has been the subject of multiple KRDO reports, including one where his former employees at the creamery claimed he owed them wages that were never paid.

Williams also owned two gyms in Southern Colorado, North Academy Fitness, and before that, Studio Fitness.

Both are now closed, but customers gave KRDO documentation that showed Williams continued to charge their credit cards at North Academy Fitness for membership dues well after the closure.

El Paso County Judge Gregory Werner has ruled in favor of Van Schooneveld, saying Williams now owes him more than $443,000.

The lawsuit filed by the former shop owner alleges that Williams entity, Williams Family Enterprises, agreed to buy the ice cream shop. It says Williams did make a down payment of $65,000, plus the first installment on a payment agreement.

But according to the suit, Williams only paid $69,777.07 of the $175,000 that he owed.

KRDO called Williams and texted him for comment on the case. He never replied.

KRDO also reached out to two law firms that previously represented Williams.

One didn't respond, the other declined to comment.

Van Schooneveld says he was awarded more money than even he expected he'd get. But thinking of his ice cream shop doesn't bring the joy it once did.

"It's not the same thing that it was anymore," Van Schooneveld said. "I don't want anyone else to be hurt by what I did by trusting him. I don't want anyone else to make the same mistake. I wish I could go back and change things. But the only way through it, however painful, is forward.”

Van Schooneveld said that at one point, Williams stopped showing up to court. He thinks that is how the judge arrived at a default ruling.