NATCHEZ — The City of Natchez may, this week, be buying back the former pecan factory site as part of a legal settlement with one-time condo developers.

The lawsuit filed against the city by the bluff condominiums development company Worley Brown LLC is scheduled to go to trial Friday, but city officials confirmed an out-of-court settlement is near.

Mayor Jake Middleton and Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard said the board of aldermen has directed City Attorney Everett Sanders to work toward settling the case.

Chancery Court Judge Vincent Davis continued the trial last week until 9 a.m. Friday at Sanders’ request. Sanders cited “procedural matters” and witness availability as the reason for his request.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday to discuss the case.

Worley Brown LLC filed the suit in September 2007 to recoup losses caused, the company has said, when it was unable to develop land on the Mississippi River bluff as a condominium complex

The settlement of the case, Dillard said, would entail the city buying back the land at the former Natchez Pecan Shelling Company site from Worley Brown.

The company purchased the land from the city in May 2006 for $500,000. The company is seeking “rescission of contract and removal of cloud on title, and for compensatory damages caused by breach of contract,” the suit states.

Worley Brown was owned by the late Edward A. Worley and Larry Brown Jr., son of mayor-elect Larry L. “Butch” Brown. Worley died in 2011, and Larry, who is a witness in the case, said Thursday he relinquished his ownership in the company shortly after Worley’s death.

The company is now owned by Worley’s estate. The executor of that estate is Worley’s son Mike Worley, Larry said.

Larry has said he has no invested interest in the outcome of the case and is simply a witness.

Mayor-elect Brown said he hopes the Worley Brown case is resolved before it goes to trial.

Brown and the current board of aldermen, except Ward 3 Alderman Bob Pollard, discussed the suit with Walter Brown during the aldermen’s retreat at Monmouth last week. Walter Brown was the city attorney during the land purchase negotiations between the city and Worley Brown and is a witness in the case.

Butch Brown said his role in the conversation was only to encourage the aldermen to resolve the case, if possible, before he takes office on July 2. Brown said the meeting had nothing to do with his son’s previous interest in the outcome of the case.

Brown said his only interest in the Worley Brown case is getting it resolved before he takes office.

“I did not want to start my calendar as mayor with this litigation on it,” he said. “This case is something that has been lingering in previous administrations. In my opinion, it could have been handled much sooner, but I don’t know the inner workings of the case.”

Brown said he does not want to inherit any type of litigation when he becomes mayor next week, especially, he said, not a case in which some people may think he is involved.

“But I am not part of it and neither is my son (Larry),” Brown said. “Larry has been called as a witness and has given a deposition, but I have no knowledge of his deposition. I purposely stayed away from that discussion and issue, particularly after I became a candidate for mayor.”

The price of the buying back the land from Worley Brown, Dillard said, is currently being worked out through each side’s attorneys and will probably be based on appraisals of land and current market values.

Dillard said he believes an important factor in the land acquisition that may affect its value is how the city could potentially develop the property, since the land has certain development limitations.

Worley Brown planned to develop the site into “75 luxury residential units, a clubhouse, swimming pool and other related common areas and facilities,” according to the lawsuit.

Before the sale of the land, in January 2006, the property was deemed a Mississippi landmark by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Because of that designation, MDAH had to issue proper permits to allow for construction on the designated sites.

MDAH rejected the permit request to build the condos at the site in September 2007, citing concerns about the safety of building on the site. That ruling became official in October 2007 when the MDAH approved a formal resolution rejecting the permit request.

The lawsuit claims the city should rescind the contract between the city and Worley Brown LLC and the “agreement at issue should be cancelled due to the mutual mistake of the parties that the construction of the 75 condominium units on the land at issue would be allowed by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.”

The lawsuit claims that the City of Natchez failed to honor its obligation of the option agreement to provide Worley Brown with “merchantable title to the land.”

Worley Brown is seeking to be released from the obligations of the agreement since the land could only be used for condo development. The company also seeks compensation “for all damages it has incurred as a result of the breaches.”

Worley Brown also requests in the lawsuit to be compensated for all attorney’s fees and costs.

The $500,000 the city received from the sale of the land was placed in a certificate of deposit. That CD was later used to secure a loan to pay a contractor who completed overlay work on several Natchez streets.

Worley Brown attorney David Ringer of Ringer and Hadley in Florence could not be reached for comment Tuesday.