The owner of a Pine Street property that operates as a food court is denying that it breached its lease with two concessioners there.
According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of D&M Mirafiore LLC—a company whose principals include the owners of Dante’s Pizza and Miyuki at Pine Street Concessions—the owner of 75 Pine St. failed to give them first right of refusal to use additional space at the property, required by their lease agreement.
“D&M has recently learned that Landlord has leased space at Premises to a third party without offering D&M the same terms and conditions offered to the third party,” according to the complaint, filed last April in state Superior Court by Westport-based attorney Richard Pate.
In filing a formal answer to the complaint Jan. 18, the property owner, New Canaan Lumber Co., denied the allegations or that D&M suffered monetary damages as a result. The defendant also denies that it violated state law relating to trade practices and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
In May, the plaintiffs filed for an injunction seeking to prevent the commercial property owner from leasing the space, saying in part that as a result D&M “will not be able to enlarge its business, something it desperately seeks to do, and, in fact, will lose business opportunities which will be diverted to a possible new tenant serving goods similar to those sold by D&M.”
Yet according to a special defense filed by Gregory Williams of New Canaan-based Lampert, Toohey Rucci LLC, the plaintiff “is precluded from recovery because plaintiff materially breached the terms of Lease between plaintiff and defendant because plaintiff D&M, in an apparent attempt to ‘corral off’ a portion on the exterior common areas, erected barriers, affixed large flower containers to the barriers to render them immoveable, and installed signage which restricted areas of seating to certain customers, all within common, exterior areas of Pine Street, without seeking or obtaining approval from plaintiff NCLC for any such allegations, installations or improvements,” as required by the lease.
Pate denied those allegations in a reply to the special defense also filed Jan. 18. A trial management conference is scheduled for September, with jury selection to follow in October, Connecticut Judicial Branch records show.
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