The row between the owners of Izzo’s Illegal Burrito and Rouses Supermarket may be heading to federal court.
The attorneys for Rouses have filed a notice of removal in the 19th Judicial District Court, where the multi-million dollar lawsuit was filed, to have the suit moved to the U.S. District Court of the Middle District in Baton Rouge. Ozzie Fernandez, one of the owners of Izzo’s, says the move is still pending and has not been approved.
In court filings, attorney Brent Barriere with Fishman Haygood’s New Orleans office, writes the claims made by Izzo’s fall under both state and federal law, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, that was created to allow prosecutors to go after organized crime.
Attorneys for Rouses declined to comment this morning.
K&F Restaurant Holdings Ltd., the parent company of Izzo’s, filed the lawsuit against Rouses Enterprises LLC, the parent company of Rouses Supermarket, and four members of the Rouse family in April.
The suit alleges the Thibodaux-based supermarket chain pressured the developers of several area shopping centers to keep Izzo’s out of their developments. The Baton Rouge-based burrito chain is seeking damages in excess of $10 million under the RICO claim.
The suit alleges the actions were in retaliation for a 2012 incident involving an Izzo’s restaurant manager, who was fired from his position and went to work in the burrito bar of a Rouses Supermarket in Lafayette, taking an Izzo’s proprietary recipe book with him. A suit filed by Izzo’s in 2012 against the employee alleges a Rouses location in Lafayette used those recipes at its burrito bar. According to court documents, Izzo’s won a court order to go into the supermarket and retrieve the recipe book.
However, Izzo’s claims Rouses executives conspired to keep the burrito chain out of several developments in the Baton Rouge area, including Juban Crossing in Livingston Parish and Long Farm in Baton Rouge.
Copies of the lease agreements between Rouses and the three shopping centers filed as exhibits with the lawsuit contain exclusionary provisions, specifically forbidding the landlords of the three developments from leasing to Izzo’s. The leases do not exclude any other fast-casual Mexican or burrito restaurants.
“Landlord shall have no right to lease or sell any portion of the shopping center to Izzo’s or any affiliate or related party,” the Rouses lease with Juban Crossing reads.
—Ryan Broussard
