A restaurant owner said he was “unlucky.” A judge added to his unluck by ordering $61,300 of his assets attached because of nonpayment of rent.
That happened in New Haven housing court Tuesday in a case involved Conte’s Ristorante.
TKM-OP LLC, represented by Eric Opin, sued Conte’s, of Milford, over nonpayment of rent that started in March 2020, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In total, they were seeking a prejudgment remedy of $70,000, which included attorney’s fees and the nonpayment of rent. The remedy allows for the plaintiffs to guarantee payment of damages if the lawsuit is successful.
Abraham Kaoud, one of the owners of the restaurant and the only one present in virtual court, told Judge Claudia Baio that, without his restaurant making sales, there is not much he can do.
“There’s no business,” Kaoud said. “We’re having a very hard time.” Mother’s Day was their best sales day in an entire year, and business is just beginning to pick up, he said.
“We used to do great business before and thought we could afford that type of rent,” he told the court. “It’s very expensive, then she raises it up and makes it harder. When we had the money, we paid. We’re not bad people, just having a bad situation going on. It’s not our fault.”
According to the original lease, Conte’s paid $5,500 per month from January 2020 — Dec. 31, 2020, after which the rent was raised to $6,200.
Kaoud noted that he is currently trying to apply for assistance through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund through the Small Business Administration. Previously, he received a $25,000 PPP loan. According to Kaoud, $20,000 of that went to bringing down the back rent.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said, adding that he would like to work with the plaintiffs to get some sort of payment plan. “Money is not everything, there are more important things,” Kaoud concluded.” “Let’s try to fix this so [the owners are] happy, and I’m happy.”
Ultimately, Judge Baio ordered that there be a prejudgment remedy of $63,100, slightly less than the requested amount due to the plaintiff reducing rent for two months to $2750, and ordered the two parties to participate in mediation with a housing specialist, which will take place on June 8.