Developer Donnie Jarreau has dropped his two lawsuits against Sammy’s Grill, according to court documents, with both parties resolving the issue upon the permanent closures of the restaurant locations in Baton Rouge and Prairieville.
On Jan. 31, Jarreau’s attorney, Barbara Parsons of The Steffes Firm, filed a motion and order for dismissal with prejudice on the basis that “this matter has been fully resolved.”
In an attached page signed days later, Judge Wilson Fields—who was scheduled to hear the suit in the 19th Judicial District Courthouse today at 9:30 a.m.—orders the matter “to be dismissed in its entirety as to all defendants with prejudice,” then further orders each party to bear their own costs. Consequently, this morning’s hearing was canceled.
“We reached an agreement to terminate the leases, so eviction was not necessary,” Jarreau says, adding he hopes to announce replacements for both properties in the next 30 days.
The resolution comes one month after restaurant owner Sammy Nagem closed the Baton Rouge and Prairieville restaurants, as well as the Sammy’s-owned Creole Cabana in Baton Rouge. At the time, Jarreau told Daily Report that Nagem, pressed by financial problems on top of the looming suit, made the decision to shut down the restaurants rather than be evicted.
Jarreau filed the suits in East Baton Rouge and Ascension parishes in early December, seeking the eviction of both restaurants over two months of unpaid rent, among other complaints. He and Ryan Jumonville bought the two properties last year for a combined $7.5 million, with plans to lease back the property to Nagem.
According to the suit filed in East Baton Rouge Parish, Nagem failed to make rent payments in October and November and owed more than $52,400 in unpaid rent for the Highland Road property. The suit also alleged Nagem hadn’t finished certificates of property and general liability insurance on the Highland Road restaurant (one of the terms of the rental agreement) and that Nagem submitted rent checks that bounced back due to insufficient funds, forcing Jarreau to make the payments via certified check.
Neither Parsons nor David Cohn of The Cohn Law Firm, who represented Nagem in the suit, could be reached for comment before this morning’s deadline.
