The owners of Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square in Buckhead want two restaurants evicted from the malls, claiming a leasing agreement breach by prominent Atlanta chef Tom Catherall.
CPI Phipps and The Retail Property Trust filed a lawsuit recently in federal court in Atlanta against Catherall, his wife, Leigh, and several of their companies, including Here To Serve Restaurants Inc.
The lawsuit is over leases for two of Here To Serve’s locations: Twist at Phipps and Prime at Lenox.
The leasing companies claim that, without their knowledge, the restaurants’ownership was transferred in 2012 to Catherall’s wife as part of a divorce settlement and that the leases were improperly assigned to her as part of the arrangement.
Meredith Ford, a spokeswoman for Tom Catherall, said the chef would have no comment on the suit.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Leigh Catherall, Here To Serve’ co-founder and chief executive officer, maintained her company did not need the leasing companies’ consent for the assignment of the restaurants’ leases.
“Here To Serve will continue to operate Twist and Prime, working diligently with Simon Properties to resolve any misunderstanding that may have occurred,” Leigh Catherall said.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs declined to comment Wednesday.
CPI Phipps and The Retail Property Trust, both affiliates of Simon Property Group, are seeking monetary damages and the evictions of Twist and Prime from Phipps and Lenox, respectively, for breach of contract.
Tom Catherall owns 13 restaurants and has more than 1,000 employees on the payroll, according to a recent report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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