Aimbridge Hospitality is seeking legal sanctions against its founder and former CEO and executive chairman Dave Johnson, alleging he purposely misled the court.
Aimbridge first accused Johnson in a lawsuit filed Dec. 5 of violating an exclusivity requirement in a consultancy contract. The company alleged Johnson was working with Dreamscape Hospitality Management, an Aimbridge competitor.
In 2021, Johnson left the company he founded, a few years after Aimbridge merged with Interstate Hotels & Resorts to form the world's largest third-party hotel management company. He was under contract with Aimbridge to consult with them.
Now, Aimbridge says Johnson made several intentionally false statements about his relationship with competing management company Dreamscape Hospitality Management in his initial response to Aimbridge’s lawsuit filed last month.
Johnson’s attorneys would later seek to withdraw his declaration to the court, saying Johnson would agree to a temporary restraining order as outlined by an earlier agreement between the parties.
In his now-withdrawn response, Johnson acknowledged a friendship with Dreamscape executives but denied having any working relationship with the company.
According to a motion Aimbridge filed Jan. 22 with the Dallas County 14th District Court, the Plano, Texas-based third-party management company is seeking a finding of contempt of court against Johnson and reimbursement of its attorney fees and costs associated with the motion.
In this motion, Aimbridge said it found multiple pieces of evidence in the discovery process that contradict Johnson's assertions.
“The Johnson Declaration, which Johnson signed ‘under penalty of perjury,’ contained multiple demonstrably false representations that Johnson knew were false when he made them,” the filing states. “Even worse, Johnson made those false representations about factual matters that occurred just three weeks prior to the date he signed the Johnson Declaration.”
The documents Aimbridge’s legal team received as part of the discovery process “revealed unambiguous evidence” that Johnson was a co-founder and owner of Dreamscape. The documents, excerpted in the Jan. 22 filing, seek to show Johnson built Dreamscape from the ground up and actively sought Aimbridge’s customers and employees for Dreamscape.
In his withdrawn response to Aimbridge’s lawsuit, Johnson said he did not work for Dreamscape, did not consult for it and did not have an ownership interest in it. He also said he hasn’t solicited any of Aimbridge’s customers or employees on behalf of Dreamscape.
However, “documents produced in the limited discovery conducted to date reveal that every single representation in this sentence is bald-faced lie,” Aimbridge’s motion said.
In the evidence exhibits that Aimbridge included in the motion was an email Johnson sent on May 7, 2025, in which he said “Adam is my guy. I own his company but no one can know. Sucks,” followed by a smiley face emoji wearing sunglasses. The quote refers to Adam Patenaude, president of Dreamscape.
There are multiple other exhibits attached to the motion:
- In an email dated Jan. 3, 2025, Johnson directs his financial adviser to wire $40,000 to Dreamscape to fund the company for the month. A slide from a Dreamscape presentation deck names Johnson as a co-founder of Dreamscape.
- A draft email about the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas intended for the Dreamscape team sent from Dreamscape Companies CEO Eric Birnbaum to Johnson for review said, “I also want to acknowledge Dave Johnson, who brought us all together. Dave and I are now quietly building Dreamscape Hospitality Management into a new, improved Aimbridge — more focused, agile and aligned with ownership.”
- An email dated June 11, 2025, from Johnson to a hotel owner working with Aimbridge reads, “I heard a rumor that you may be making a change with Hotel Managers at few of your properties. I think I mentioned it to you but I use Adam Patenaude President of Dreamscape Hospitality for seven assets that I am a Partner in as of today and three more I am developing. He's the best. Just passing along and would love to reconnect soon."
- An email dated Aug. 13, 2025, from Johnson to another hotel owner that reads “Freaking hire Dreamscape and let’s be done with it!!!”
- An email dated July 11, 2024, from a former Aimbridge employee to Johnson reads, “It was awesome seeing you this morning. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the possibility of being a part of your Dreamscape project. Assuming it all works out, you have my word that I will give 125% at all times and be significant part of Dreamscape Hospitality's success. I have the most ultimate respect for Adam [Patenaude] and love the opportunity to build this venture with him at the helm."
There is also a Sept. 25, 2025, email from Dreamscape Chief Investment Officer Bill Stadler to a hotel owner with two properties in Nassau, Bahamas, managed by Aimbridge, about discussing switching management companies of the properties. A follow-up email that same day from Stadler said he and Johnson would like to meet with the owner to discuss “the change in management.” An Oct. 14, 2025, email mentioned that Stadler and Johnson looked forward to meeting to discuss management.
Following the owner’s agreement to meet, Johnson sent an email to his executive assistant to arrange a flight to the Bahamas for him and Dreamscape executives. He said to “[h]ave Dreamscape pay for all the transportation.”
An Oct. 29, 2025, email confirmed the Nov. 18, 2025, meeting with Dreamscape executives, Johnson and the hotel owner.
Johnson and the Dreamscape executives then traveled to the Bahamas on a private jet for the Nov. 18 meeting with the hotel owner. The filing includes two photos: one of Johnson meeting the owner alongside the Dreamscape executives; and another of Johnson at the hotel’s restaurant having lunch with the owner and Dreamscape executives.
Three weeks after this, Johnson would file his response to Aimbridge’s initial filing in which he denied any connection to Dreamscape beyond being friends with them and denied any business was conducted on that flight.
A hearing has been set for Feb. 9 regarding the sanctions motion.
Aimbridge declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. An email seeking comment from Johnson’s attorney did not receive a response.