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DIRTY IN DEERFIELD-Deerfield Beach Cafe Holding Over City Still Has Not Been Able To Evict Tenant-

By
Howard Levy
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1569
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Deerfield-News.com-Deerfield Beach,Fl-In the battle for eviction in this case the City of Deerfield Beach v Class Act Restaurant Group(Holdover Tenant) .

At least for the moment the tenant whose lease expired months ago still occupies the property and is operating the restaurant.The City of Deerfield Beach who has entered into a new lease agreement with the owner of Oceans 234 still is dealing with the former leaseholder who is remaining on site and holding over.

The situation is in the Broward  County Circuit Court with the city seeking eviction and therefore the City of Deerfield Beach will not comment to us as litigation is pending. That said the DBPR ‘s most recent inspection of Deerfield Beach Cafe which was not that good with 11 violations does indicate the license application for the winner of the bid for the lease/ owner’s of Oceans 234 is pending.

Meantime it appears that the holdover tenant certainly is causing monetary damages to both the city of Deerfield Beach and to the bidder that won the new lease.

Below is our post from November when this became and issue as the occupants Class Act began their holdover at the beachfront restaurant owned by the city.Also below is the most recent inspection report of the cafe from the State of Florida DBPR.

 

Deerfield-New.com-Deerfield Beach,Fl-After having read the complaint filed in Broward Circuit court in the case of Class Act Restaurant Group d/B/A Deerfield Beach Cafe v The City of Deerfield Beach. I while no legal scholar have to believe the City has the better legal position in this matter.

Those that read Deerfield-News.com know I held the position in the Sunshine Clothier Camper on the beach case that she had the upper hand and better legal argument. The city settled with her and she received a check for her property.

There is no 5 year lease attached to the Plaintiff’s Class Act Restaurant Group complaint.Plaintiff alleges they have a five year extension of the original 10 year lease. If there was a lease where is it? Why didn’t Class Act Restaurant Group  seek injunctive relief and make a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) at the point of the bidding process when the city extended their lease for six months? Certainly if they had demonstrated the four things required to obtain injunctive relief at that time because they had a lease,one would think a TRO would have been granted.

The two most important factors in receiving injunctive relief are irreparable harm and the likelihood of success on the merits.Again if they have a five year lease extension and the city was trying to evict them it appears they would have met the 2 most important factors to receive injunctive relief and a TRO would have been granted.

Plaintiff  also alleges that the city violated the “Cone Of Silence” during the bidding process.

Class Act Restaurant Group is now a hold over tenant refusing to leave the city owned building.Generally evictions are also a fairly quick process the lawsuit from the city is 115 pages. One would expect soon a Broward Circuit court judge will issue that order.

This publisher of Deerfield-News.com believes that Class Act Restaurant Group will file for Chapter 11 which is an automatic stay on any eviction and will buy them time.This is our opinion I have no dog in this fight do not know either of the parties.

Certainly under Chapter 11 the protection a Federal Court can give includes the stay of the lease with the city of Deerfield Beach.The use of that strategy will be temporarily successful and allow Class Act to continue to operate as a “Debtor in Possession” and get thru the season if not longer. This will only delay the inevitable unless they have that 5 year lease extension they claim to have. The inevitable is  eviction and a judgment in favor of the city and probably legal fees being paid by the plaintiff to the city and some damages for the city.

 

 

 

 

Licensee
Name: DEERFIELD BEACH CAFE License Number: SEA1623252
Rank: Seating License Expiration Date: 12/01/2024
Primary Status: Current Secondary Status: Change Owner Pending
Location Address: 202 NE 21 AVE
DEERFIELD BEACH, FL 33441

 

Inspection Information
Inspection Type Inspection Date Result High Priority Violations Intermediate Violations Basic Violations
Routine – Food 02/13/2024 Met Inspection Standards
During This Visit
More information about inspections.
 3 1 7
Violations:
A summary of the violations found during the inspection are listed below. The department cites violations of Florida’s sanitation and safety laws, which are based on the standards of U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Code. High Priority violations are those which could contribute directly to a foodborne illness or injury and include items such as cooking, reheating, cooling and hand-washing. Intermediate violations are those which, if not addressed, could lead to risk factors that contribute to foodborne illness or injury. These violations include personnel training, documentation or record keeping and labeling. Basic violations are those which are considered best practices to implement. While most establishments correct all violations in a timely manner (often during the inspection), the division’s procedures are designed to compel compliance with all violations through follow-up visits, administration action or closure when necessary.
Violation Observation
40-06-5 Basic – Employee personal items stored in or above a food preparation area, food, clean equipment and utensils, or single-service items. Employee bag stored with clean pitchers at the clean utensil rack in warehouse wash area.
13-03-4 Basic – Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation. No hair restraints used by employees slicing and toasting bread for customers at the bread counter.
14-11-5 Basic – Equipment in poor repair. 1. Torn door gasket, true refrigerator by bread station in kitchen. 2. Torn door gasket, Continental reach in cooler bottom door, near bread counter in kitchen. 3. Bottom panel open in bottom of reach in cooler opposite cookline, water and food debris underneath opening.
14-69-4 Basic – Ice buildup on reach-in freezer doors, true reach in freezer opposite cook line in the kitchen.
29-49-6 Basic – Standing water in bottom of reach-in-cooler. Standing water, reach in cooler opposite fryers in kitchen.
42-01-4 Basic – Wet mop not stored in a manner to allow the mop to dry. Wet mop stored on floor next to mop sink.
21-09-4 Basic – Wet wiping cloths used for occasional spills on equipment food- and nonfood-contact surfaces not clean. Observed on cutting board by cook line and at front counter. Operator placed in sanitizer solution. **Corrected On-Site**
12A-27-4 High Priority – Employee cracked raw shell eggs and then handled ready-to-eat food and/or clean equipment or utensils without washing hands. Employee cracked raw shell egg then handled cleaned plates without hand washing.
03B-01-6 High Priority – Time/temperature control for safety food, other than whole meat roast, hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooked sausage (91F-Hot Hokding) and marinara (112F – Hot Holding), both prepared less than three hours ago per operator, place on shelf above grill in kitchen, under no temperature control. Operator reheated. **Corrective Action Taken**
29-34-4 High Priority – Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb at the mop sink in the janitors closet.
02B-01-5 Intermediate – Menu does not identify which items contain raw or undercooked animal foods covered by the consumer advisory. Ahi Benny, Smoke Salmon platter, Northern eggs Benedict, BLT egg Benedict, all items contain a raw item as a hidden ingredient. Operator identified items on all menus with an asterisk on the menu item and disclosure. **Corrected On-Site**

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