A man said to be bipolar apparently stopped taking his medication, and the result of his actions is causing a headache for an Atlanta shop.
The owners of the downtown Atlanta staple Friedman’s Shoes are battling their insurance company, which has refused to cover $80,000 in damages.
Travelers Insurance told the owners of Friedman’s they won’t cover damages because the man who damaged the rented space next to the Mitchell Street store is a "leased employee."
Brett Teilhaber, an owner and manager of Friedman’s, a longtime family business, said they rented out the unit next door to a man who wanted to open up a skateboard shop, work on some of his architectural designs and live there.
“He went to Tech, he’s a downtown kid,” Teilhaber said. “If he had to pay rent somewhere, he may as well try and make a little money, too, in retail.”
The lease to the unit – a former clothing store – was signed March 15. A couple of weeks later, the place was destroyed.
The renter is bipolar and stopped taking his medication, Teilhaber said.
Teilhaber said he left Friedman’s for the day around 5 p.m. and saw the man next door. The man stayed up all night, throwing file cabinets through windows, tearing down all of the ceiling tile and yanking out the electrical wiring. A police officer patrolling the area found the man in the morning.
“He shattered every mirror, display case, everything,” said Teilhaber, who arrived that morning to find a police officer outside and glass and debris everywhere.
Teilhaber called Travelers, who sent out an inspector and asked for a damage report. Teilhaber also called the renter’s parents and said if they paid for the deductible, then he wouldn’t press charges.
The parents agreed.
As for Travelers, “they came back and said, ‘we believe he was remodeling.’”
“Was he also remodeling Mitchell Street? You can see that he threw the stuff through the windows, onto the street,” Teilhaber said.
Teilhaber appealed Travelers’ initial decision.
A claims representative sent a letter on May 15 that said Friedman’s commercial insurance policy doesn’t cover criminal acts by “you, or any of your partners, members, officers, managers, employees (including leased employees), directors, trustees, authorized representatives … ”
“They are saying because we leased him the store, he was a leased employee of ours, which he clearly wasn’t, it was his own business,” Teilhaber said.
Teilhaber is one of four brothers – and their father – who run Friedman’s, a store famous for selling supersized shoes to athletes, including basketball, hockey and baseball players. Their grandfather started the store in 1929, and their father, Bruce Teilhaber, bought the building in 1972, Teilhaber said.
This insurance claim is the first they’ve filed, Teilhaber said.
“They weren’t our good neighbor, this insurance company,” Teilhaber said.
A representative from Travelers told Channel 2 Action News that they don’t discuss claims due to privacy concerns but that they would “look into it.”
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