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Lemon Grove owner faces $20K lawsuit
YOUNGSTOWN
The Lemon Grove and its owner Jacob Harver face a lawsuit seeking more than $20,000 compensation for property damage.
The lawsuit was filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. It claims Harver breached his contract with landlord SKA Limited and violated the terms of his lease in July by removing six sinks, outdoor fencing and a kitchen exhaust hood from the restaurant’s former property at 122 W. Federal St. during its move to 110 W. Federal St.
The lawsuit also seeks punitive measures and alleges criminal trespass, claiming that Harver and others entered the property illegally at 122 W. Federal St., two days after their move was complete, to remove signs erected by the building’s new tenant O’Donold’s, currently renovating the building for its opening in September.
Under the terms of the lease, Harver agreed to maintain the property and was barred from removing any attached fixtures, regardless of whether he paid for them. Jeffrey Kurz, a local attorney and co-owner of property developer SKA Limited said Harver was well aware of such stipulations but ignored them anyway.
“This is certainly not intended to create animosity between businesses downtown,” Kurz said. “We encourage the Lemon Grove, and we appreciate what Jacob has done for the community, but there was just too much damage done to the place for us to ignore it.”
According to quotes provided with court documents, the kitchen exhaust hood cost more than $13,000, and the sinks are estimated to be worth nearly $3,000.
The dispute began at the end of July when Harver and workers renovating the space at The Lemon Grove’s new location ran out of fencing for the outdoor patio area at 110 W. Federal St. Instead of purchasing new materials, according to court documents, workers took fencing from the restaurant’s former location.
Eventually, Kurz said Harver took the entire fence, worth $5,534.
“We purchased and paid for that fence,” Harver countered. “And we purchased the sinks and the hood, too; I didn’t think they were going to have an issue with those either — I didn’t think anything of it.”
Neither Kurz nor Harver said their relationship was ever strained in the three years The Lemon Grove occupied the space.
“We paid for everything in that building,” Harver said. “This is just [Kurz’s] character — it’s how he does things — that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to move in the first place because he did nothing toward the improvement of the building.”
Harver estimated that he invested $200,000 in the first floor of the building during his tenancy. Kurz invested more than $180,000 when he first purchased the building to bring it up to code, he said.
Harver denies trespassing to remove O’Donold’s signage and claims permission was never granted to erect them, as Kurz contends. Harver said they blew off the building because they were not put up properly.
If the parties cannot resolve the issue outside of court, they will meet with attorneys for a conference, which could eventually lead to a brief trial. Harver has not obtained a lawyer and first learned of the lawsuit on Thursday.
“I would rather settle this outside of court,” Kurz said. “He was a good tenant, and we enjoyed having him there, but he hasn’t shown much willingness to get this resolved. Hopefully we can get a dialogue open again.”