NATCHEZ — After working through multiple lawsuits, investor Charles Cato is no longer a partner with Grand Soleil.

In April, a lawsuit over contractual matters between Cato and Grand Soleil was being addressed and was finally resolved in July, said Kent Hudson, attorney for the casino.

“At one point there were probably four lawsuits over different things that were going on, and each one of those had multiple issues involved,” Hudson said.

And the way of working it out after approximately two months was for Grand Soleil to buy out Cato’s investment.

“All of his interest has been repurchased,” Hudson said. “He is no longer a partner or affiliated with Grand Soleil.

“It was an amicable resolution because it was one that was agreed upon by all parties.”

And now, a lawsuit filed in 2005 against Cato coming from two Florida companies, Parallel Partners and Roman Financial, has recently resurfaced.

Cato said Grand Soleil is also part of the suit, though he said the lawsuits don’t have much merit.

“We don’t believe there’s any validity to that,” he said.

Hudson said though Grand Soleil has not yet been served with the suit, and he doesn’t exactly know what it entails, he believes the casino is getting pulled in because the two Florida companies may think Cato has no money.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to tack us on the lawsuit,” he said. “I understand they were attempting to pull other people in.”

He said Grand Soleil is safe from getting dragged in because it was filed before Cato became involved with the project.

“It’s an old lawsuit. It’s not a new one by any means,” he said. “Everything it concerns is about what Mr. Cato did prior to his getting involved.

“We don’t think the case has any merit insofar as it concerns us.”

Also, with Cato no longer being a partner with Grand Soleil, the casino is protected from any subsequent lawsuit Cato faces and will see zero backlash, Hudson said.