When the stadium was profitable, Modell had used Stadium Corp. to buy land in Strongsville that he had previously acquired as the potential site for a future new stadium. Modell originally paid $625,000 for the land, but sold it to his own Stadium Corp. for more than $3 million. Then, when the stadium was taking losses in 1981, he sold Stadium Corp. itself to the Browns for $6 million. This led to a fight the following year with Bob Gries, whose family had been part of the Browns' ownership group since its founding and had 43% of the team to Modell's 53%. Gries's complaint was that Modell treated the Browns and Stadium Corp. as his own fiefdom, rarely consulting him about the team's business. The sale of Stadium Corp. to the Browns, he argued, enriched Modell at the team's expense. Gries's case went to the Ohio Supreme Court, where he won. In 1986, Modell had to reverse the Browns' purchase of Stadium Corp. and pay $1 million in Gries's legal fees. This left Modell in need of financial help, and it came in the form of Al Lerner, a banking and real estate executive who bought half of Stadium Corp. and 5% of the Browns in 1986.