In Court
BY BILL HELTZEL
R
Red Hat Bistro settles lawsuit with lenders
ed Hat on the River and a group of lenders who financed the popular Irvington bistro have settled a $2 million lawsuit. Lawyers for In Your Hat LLC, the lender group, and Red Hat Bistro LLC owners James K. Parker and Mary Beth Dooley-Parker filed a stipulation of discontinuance last month in Westchester Supreme Court. Both sides, James Parker said in an email, “have agreed to a settlement of the past litigation and all disputes.” The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The Parkers opened a French bistro in 2003 on Main Street in Irvington. In 2007, they moved across the railroad tracks to the former Lord and Burnham greenhouse factory at 1 Bridge St. They converted a former boiler room into an airy, two-level brick and glass room with a rooftop bar, steps away from the Hudson. Their menu incorporates French bistro,
Mediterranean and regional American dishes. In Your Hat was formed in 2006 to fund Red Hat Bistro LLC. The lending group consists of Sushil Malhotra, Frank Martucci, Jeffrey Reich, William Thompson, My Hat LLC and Reicher Capital Management. In Your Hat initially loaned the restaurateurs $700,000 and later another $100,000. Besides loan payments, the lenders got a share of gross receipts and a monthly food allowance. In Your Hat sued the Parkers and the bistro in April
for breach of contract, claiming they had stopped making payments late last year. “Both parties are happy to move on with their respective businesses,” James Parker said in an email about the settlement. “We are happy to report that the process was amicable and we’re glad to put this chapter behind us.” Red Hat was represented by Darius P. Chafizadeh of Harris Beach PLLC in White Plains. In Your Hat was represented by Dinesh U. Dadlani of Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney in Jersey City, New Jersey.
N
Titan Concrete sues Jenna Concrete for $2M
ew Rochelle-based Titan Concrete Inc. claims in a $2 million lawsuit that a competitor got access to its proprietary information under the guise of offering to buy it out. The competitor “never intended to acquire Titan at all,” the company said in a complaint filed in Westchester Supreme Court, “but rather, intended to use the confidential information for its own benefit and to Titan’s detriment.” Titan alleges wrongdoing by U.S. Concrete Inc. and its Jenna Concrete Corp. and USC-Jenna LLC subsidiaries. The complaint was filed on Aug. 3, the same day that Titan and its owner, Michael V. Saccente Jr. of Mohegan Lake, responded to charges by USC-Jenna that they had refused to pay $2.3 million for loads of concrete. Titan supplies readymix concrete in New York City and Westchester and Putnam counties. It has offices in the J.A. Mahlstedt Lumber and Coal Co. build-
ing in downtown New Rochelle and operates facilities on Fordham Road in the Bronx and in Carmel. From 2013 to May 2018, Titan leased space from Jenna and bought sand, rock and water from Jenna’s Bronx yard next to the Harlem River. A year ago, according to Titan’s complaint, U.S. Concrete, an $888 million publicly traded company based in Euless, Texas, asked Titan if it were interested in being acquired. The companies signed a confidentiality agreement, and Titan provided proprietary information. No hard offer to buy was ever made. Titan was using a com-
puter system owned by Anthony Valente, a Jenna officer and employee, for dispatching trucks. Valente knew where Titan’s trucks were at all times, the complaint stated, and used that information to outbid Titan on several projects. Titan has accused Jenna and U.S. Concrete of tortious interference, breach of confidentiality, fraud and computer fraud. It is asking for $2 million in damages and an injunction ordering its competitors not to use its proprietary information. But if Titan is found liable in Jenna’s claim for $2.3 million for not paying for concrete, Saccente said that claim should be offset by Titan’s claim for $2 million. A lawyer representing Jenna, Anthony J. Tavormina, did not immediately respond to telephone and email requests for comment on Titan’s allegations. Titan is represented by Jason S. Samuels and Joseph J. Sawczak of Farrell Fritz PC in Uniondale.
Travelers sues tug company for claims on sunken barge
T
he Port Allen was taking on so much water during a storm last summer that the captain and crew of the Foxy 3 tugboat released the hopper barge off Port Chester Harbor and allowed it to sink into the Long Island Sound. Travelers Property Casualty Co. paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims for the loss of the vessel and cargo and for salvaging the wreck. Now it wants the tug operator, Fox Marine Corp. of Easton, Pennsylvania, to pay for those claims. Travelers sued Fox for negligence last month in
4
AUGUST 20, 2018
Westchester Supreme Court, and on Aug. 7, Fox had the case moved to federal court in White Plains. Carver Construction Inc. had hired Fox to tow the Port Allen from Newark, New Jersey — where it picked up a $42,994 load of sand at Gotham Aggregates LLC — and deliver it to the O&G Industries yard in Stamford, Connecticut. Fox was intimately familiar with the Port Allen, the complaint said, having towed it twice before, full and empty, on the same round-trip route, with the same type of cargo. The 195-foot-long Port
WCBJ
Allen was a river hopper, built in 1988 with a flat box bow, five wing compartments and an open hopper compartment surrounded by a 24-inch wall. On July 14, 2017, Capt. Craig J. Golden and the crew of the Foxy 3 took control of the barge. They reported no problems or issues of seaworthiness. They arrayed the Port Allen with three other barges in a two-by-two formation ahead of the tug. The other barges had raked bows. “Industry practice dictates that, when available, a barge with a raked bow
should be placed at the front of the tow,” the complaint stated. Instead, the flat-fronted Port Allen was placed in the front where it would bear “the brunt of any waves or water that hit the vessels.” The four-barge tow set out for the eight-hour trip to Stamford. When it reached the coast off of Rye, the vessels suddenly encountered 2-foot seas. The Port Allen began to take on water. The tug plowed ahead into 3-foot-plus seas off Port Chester Harbor. Waves broke into the Port Allen’s open hopper. Golden changed course to the northwest in an
attempt to stop waves from flooding the Port Allen. It was too late, the complaint stated. The crew released the Port Allen from the tow and the barge sank. Travelers claims that Fox Marine was negligent. The Foxy 3 did not change course, reduce speed or take action to avoid dangerous seas when it encountered bad weather. Neither the U.S. Coast Guard nor Westchester County’s marine unit was summoned for assistance. The crew failed to seek shelter, beach the barges, pump out water or reposition the barges. Fox, the complaint stat-
ed, has refused to reimburse Travelers for the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in insurance claims paid to Carver Construction. Travelers is asking the court to order Fox to reimburse those costs. Fox is represented by attorney Gino Anthony Zonghetti in Hackensack, New Jersey. He did not immediately respond to email and telephone messages asking for a response to the allegations. Travelers is represented by Myles K. Bartley, Jeffrey I. Carton and Peter N. Freiberg of Denlea & Carton LLP in White Plains.