‘Phantom' files suit against Fox Theatre

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By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The man known as the Phantom of the Fox Theatre is now suing his landlords for the right to remain in his home.

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Joe Patten, left, and supporters arrive at Fox Theater board meeting where trustees deliberated on whether he can continue to live there.

Kristi E. Swartz Joe Patten, left, and supporters arrive at Fox Theater board meeting where trustees deliberated on whether he can continue to live there.

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Joe Patten is accusing Atlanta Landmarks -- the nonprofit that runs the historic theater in Midtown -- of “willful, intentional and deliberate acts of housing discrimination” because of a change made to his lifetime lease.

Patten, 83, signed a lease with Atlanta Landmarks in 1979 allowing him to live in a renovated office space in the theater rent-free for the rest of his life.

The Fox’s board of trustees agreed in August to change that lease, saying Patten could live there “as long as he is able.” In other words, Patten can remain there until he needs around-the-clock care.

In a statement, a Fox spokeswoman said the board and staff at the theater continued to be concerned for Patten's health, a main reason why officials had said previously that they agreed that the lease needed to be changed.

"We continue to be concerned for Joe," Fox Theatre spokeswoman Kristen Delaney said. "Our position still stands that Joe is welcome to continue to live in the apartment for as long as he is able."

The Aug. 26 meeting came after Patten had returned from a stay in the hospital and in a rehabilitation center following a mild stroke. Patten then received a letter from Woody White, president of Atlanta Landmarks, asking him to seek out an “assisted living residence."

White is also named in the lawsuit, which Patten’s attorney Emmet Bondurant filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court.

The suit is seeking an injunction against the Fox. It also asks Atlanta Landmarks to pay for damages -- including punitive damages -- as well as attorney’s fees and additional costs associated with litigation.

Bondurant is asking for a jury trial, according to the lawsuit.

Patten’s original lease could be terminated if he became permanently disabled for 180 days or more and a panel of three doctors said he should be hospitalized.

The lease also could be terminated if Atlanta Landmarks did so by a two-thirds vote, which is what happened in August.

In an interview with WSB Radio, however, Bondurant says Atlanta Landmarks broke the contract.

“He will not be bullied, he will not be intimidated,” Bondurant told WSB Radio.

Fox Theatre general manager Allan Vella said in early September that the board was open to negotiating the new lease, telling the AJC that there’s “very little” that can’t be worked out.

“I think what is clear to us is that there may be some arrangements and some accommodations that can be made,” Vella said at the time.

Delaney from the Fox said that Patten had declined to discuss the lease with the board.

"We are very disappointed as Joe has rejected every overture to discuss this matter and to negotiate an amicable agreement," she said.

Still, Bondurant said Patten wanted the Fox to scrap the new lease and go back to the old one. Bondurant told WSB Radio that this lawsuit came after fair warning.

“We gave the trustees of the Fox an opportunity to rescind the termination of Joe’s lease, telling them that what they had done constituted a clear violation of the Georgia Fair Housing Act,” Bondurant told WSB Radio. “We wanted to give them a face-saving way out -- to rescind their action on their own and reinstate the lease. We had no alternative but to do precisely what we said we would do, which is if you refuse, then we will be compelled to sue you.”

Bondurant said a superior court judge has yet to be assigned to the case. He expects an injunction hearing to take place within the next couple of weeks.