Confidential
Settlement – $3,830,120Judge
Court
San Francisco Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Andrew W. Schwartz
(Shute Mihaly & Weinberger, LLP)
Defendant
Edward G. Burg
(Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP)
Experts
Plaintiff
Paul Stanners
(technical)
Richard Hodges
(technical)
Chris Carneghi
(technical)
Aaron D. Amster
(technical)
Defendant
Michael Tennenbaum
(technical)
Matthew F. Holmes
(technical)
Facts
Defendant, as a tenant, operated its flagship restaurant on the ground floor of a 6-story office building in a
desirable area of a major city. Plaintiff filed a proceeding in eminent domain to acquire the office building in
order to expand a convention center. As a result of the condemnation, defendantÆs leasehold was terminated
and it was required to close its restaurant. Defendant leased a replacement site and ultimately moved the
restaurant to the new location.
Defendant had operated the restaurant profitably at the property taken for 11 years. It did a substantial lunch
business (largely from conventioneers), but had available capacity on weekends and evenings. It anticipated a
significant future increase in weekend and evening business based on the opening of a large entertainment
complex directly across the street from the site.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made a statutory offer of $2,869,875. The defendant made a statutory final demand of $3,999,500. Following a series of settlement conferences before the trial judge, defendant agreed to accept payment of $3,830,125 to settle its claims.
Damages
$3.7 million (for loss of goodwill); $130,125 (previously agreed amount for fixtures and equipment)
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