(NVR) - Dahl Vineyards is being evicted from its Yountville home, a week after proprietor Robert Dahl shot an investor to death with a silencer-equipped handgun on the grounds and later killed himself as police closed in after a brief car chase.

The fate of the new winery is just one of many legal loose ends following the unexpected spasm of violence that left Dahl and investor Emad Tawfilis dead, drawing national attention to the normally peaceful Napa Valley.

Dahl, who moved to California from Minnesota sometime in the past decade, had founded several wine-related companies and a brewery in Napa County, but was involved in an increasingly contentious web of lawsuits, including a claim by Tawfilis that he had misappropriated $1.2 million that the Los Gatos investor had loaned him.

The two men had met March 16 to try to settle the lawsuit when the gunfire broke out. The exact circumstances of the violence remain unclear, since there were no witnesses, but the Napa County coroner said Tawfilis was shot five times, three times in the upper body and twice in the head. One of the shots to the head proved fatal, according to Sheriff’s Capt. Steven Blower.

The violence stunned the community and drew reporters from all over the country to the quiet intersection of Hoffman Lane and Solano Avenue, just south of Yountville.

“It’s just heartbreaking,” said James Koller, a member of the McVicar family, which owns the property in the 6100 block of Solano Avenue where Dahl opened his winery last year.

At a hearing on one of the numerous lawsuits involving Dahl last week, Napa County Superior Court Judge Diane Price expressed her shock at the recent violence and extended her condolences to the attorneys present — David Wiseblood, a San Francisco-based attorney, who appeared in person and represents Tawfilis’ Lexington Street Investments LLC, and Kousha Berokim, a Beverly Hills attorney who counseled Dahl and participated in the hearing via telephone.

Dahl’s death left the exact status of those lawsuits somewhat murky.

Wiseblood suggested the court appoint a receiver, a court officer who could sell what’s left of Dahl’s assets, including wine and beer and winemaking equipment, which could be used to settle the dispute with Tawfilis. Although the investor is dead, his company remains in business and will continue to try to recover the money loaned to Dahl. The lawyer said he had been in touch with Tawfilis’ siblings, who may take control of the investment company.

Dahl, 47, lived in Fairfield and had a wife and three grown children, but it is not clear what kind of estate he left behind and who represents it.

More than three years ago, Tawfilis agreed to give Dahl nearly $1 million in cash, stashed in a red Adidas gym bag, a photo of which Dahl showed friends and others. Dahl, who at the time owned a wine bottling business, wrote in an email in 2011 he wanted cash to buy wine.

Tawfilis later accused Dahl of misleading him into investing in a shell company and then transferring funds into a separate winery and brewery. In the weeks before his death, Dahl faced contempt of court sanctions for allegedly selling wine and beer equipment in spite of court orders not to do so while the legal claims worked their way through court, according to court filings.

At last week’s hearings, Dahl’s former lawyer said his own status is now uncertain — it is not clear whom he represents anymore since Dahl is dead.

The judge agreed to continue the entire case to April 10, in part to give lawyers time to figure out what to do in the face of the deaths of their clients.

Dahl had made considerable renovations to the Yountville property where his winery was located. The owners will take possession of the renovated building, with all of the improvements Dahl made included.

The owners are taking back the winery building because Dahl was behind on payments for the grapes from the surrounding vineyards, a violation of the lease, said Michael D. Imfeld, attorney for the owners.

At the winery, Koller said he found an unsigned contract in a drawer after the investigators had left the building. In it Tawfilis is supposed to admit that he falsely accused Dahl of fraud and alleged those who testified on his behalf lied. Wiseblood said it may have been something drafted by Dahl. It certainly did not reflect any of the possible points of a settlement the men had been discussing when the violence erupted.

“I believe there is no doubt that Robert Dahl drafted this document,” Wiseblood said. “His counsel would not have done so. … It was stunning and disturbing to see this document. Perhaps it sheds a clear light on Mr. Dahl’s intentions that fateful day.”

Knoller was more blunt.

“It’s just insane,” Koller said of the eight-page document. “Robert was his own worst enemy.”

A draft settlement agreement “more in favor” of Tawfilis was found on the table at the winery, said Napa County Sheriff’s Capt. Doug Pike. It’s not clear what role the two documents may have played in the events of March 16.

The Napa County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the case, Pike said, despite the fact that the killer is dead.

While most of the public attention had focused on the energetic and volatile Dahl, Tawfilis was described by friends and colleagues as quiet and private. Yet he was determined to pursue Dahl in court. “This was a lot of money to him,” his attorney, Wiseblood, said, referring to the $1.2 million loan.

“To me, he was a honest man trying to right a wrong,” said Dawn King, a private investigator who had been working for Tawfilis on the case.

Exactly how Dahl came in possession of the gun is unclear. As a convicted felon in his home state of Minnesota, Dahl could not have legally purchased the gun and the illegal noise suppressor in California, according to Pike.

Dahl pleaded guilty in 1991 in Minnesota to felony grand theft, according to the Office of the Hennepin County Attorney in Minneapolis. The theft was for more than $2,500.

A 15-month prison sentence was stayed. He served three months at a workhouse and was placed on probation for 10 years, which he completed in 2001, according to the Office of the Hennepin County Attorney.

About 1,000 rounds of ammunition were found in Dahl’s Toyota SUV on Wall Road, where he wound up after fleeing from officers responding to reports of the shooting at the winery, Pike said last week.

“To me, it looks like it was just an ambush,” said Wiseblood on Friday, noting that Dahl had requested the meeting take place at his winery purportedly to show Tawfilis some records.

Among the many points of contention included the location of five 3,000-gallon wine tanks, which were to be used as collateral to settle the case.

“My understanding is he brought no records with him at this meeting,” Wiseblood said. “I don’t have what his planning was; I’m not that arrogant. But it’s hard to believe that Robert’s intent was to have a meeting to provide Emad with the documents he agreed to provide”

Wiseblood was uneasy when his client told him he was going to meet with Dahl at the winery after another settlement meeting was canceled on March 13. He declined to say what he told his client.

“He was not going to be taken advantage of by Robert and he wanted Robert to honor his obligations to him.”

In Napa County, Dahl had built a number of businesses, including Napa Point Winery LLC, the entity that ran Dahl Vineyards, and Napa Point Brewing LLC. The brewery in south Napa County had drawn widespread media attention when it opened in the fall of 2013. There was public talk of moving the business to the historic Borreo Building in downtown Napa. However, the business quietly closed mid-2014.

Dahl’s business past was checkered. He had come to California after launching a number of businesses in Minnesota, including a contracting and anti-microbial businesses. He and wife, Janelle, filed for bankruptcy in 1997.

A friend of Dahl’s, Myles Davis of Myles Davis Electric Inc. in Napa, on Friday said the situation has been surreal. “I’m devastated,” he said.

Dahl was generous, fun, gregarious, he and others said. Yet he was also prone to yell “his head off” when he did not get his way, said Steve Burch, a winemaker who worked for Dahl until they parted ways last year.

Winemaking was just Dahl’s latest dream, said Greg Knittel, a longtime contractor in Napa County who met Dahl through a friend in the end of 2012. They became close friends, going on motorcycle rides and going out to dinner with their wives. “We were doing fun things together.”

Dahl said he had wanted to start a winery in Minnesota, Knittel recalled this week, but could not attract investors. “He said people could not see his vision. So he moved to California because this is where the wine is made. And he wanted to be where the best wine is made.”

Eventually, Knittel became Dahl’s second largest investor in Napa Point Brewing, which was first located on North Kelly Road before moving to Devlin Road. Knittel also worked on transforming a plywood barn at the Dahl winery into a small wine production and tasting room. Knittel started working on the Dahl Vineyards building in April and completed it in July or August of last year.

“It was a lot of work,” Knittel said.

But Dahl clashed with county officials, refusing to obtain necessary use permits and collecting numerous notices of violations.

Dahl did not realize how hard the wine business is, Koller said.

“He was always talking about the wine lifestyle, drink wine every night and eat great dinners,” Koller said. “He didn’t know anything about wine.”