by Thomas MacMillan | Aug 17, 2012 10:00 am

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Posted to: Business/ Economic Development

A week after water poured into the dining room and basement of Bru Cafe, the Orange Street coffee shop remains closed—the latest chapter in a years-old court battle between proprietor Curtis Packer and his landlord.

Like many other parts of the city, Bru was hit hard by flash flooding last Friday when the skies opened up in a brief, furious deluge. Water flowed over the floor of the coffee shop’s dining room, and the basement filled with several inches of water.

Packer estimated that his business suffered thousands of dollars of damage. He placed the blame squarely on his landlords, Lynne Franford and her son Brian Franford and their company Orange Palladium. The flooding was a result of the a leaky roof, gutter, and basement that the Franfords neglected to repair properly, Packer said.

Stuart Margolis, the Franfords’ lawyer, denied that charge.

Workers assessing the damage after the flooding found sheetrock that appeared to be covered in black mold, Packer said. Bru can’t reopen until repairs are made, and the landlord hasn’t followed through, he said.

On Thursday, the city’s health department sent a citation to the landlords, ordering them to repair the roof, ceiling, and walls of the coffee shop immediately. If the landlords do not act, the city has the option of referring the matter to the state’s attorney’s office for prosecution.

“I can’t comment on this matter,” said Brian Franford, reached by phone. He said that he can’t talk about Bru since he’s in the middle of litigation with the business.

Attorney Margolis issued a statement Friday stating that the landlord is not at fault, that the flooding was “an act of God.” He wrote that action or inaction by Orange Palladium is not the cause of any water damage or mold problems in the cafe, but will nonetheless work “with dispatch” to repair the building.

In recent years, Bru has become a magnet for spoken-word poets, musicians, bicycle enthusiasts, and others drawn to Pitkin Plaza, a new urbanist hub in New Haven’s reviving downtown ringed by O’Toole’s Irish Pub, Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, the 360 State St. tower, Elm City market, and the coffee shop.

Meanwhile, Bru and its lawyers have been embroiled in court battles with the Franfords and their lawyers, with suits and countersuits flying from both sides since the landlords tried to evict the coffee shop in 2010. Margolis said in his statement that the root of the dispute is the cafe’s failure to pay rent. It’s gotten to the point that the latest filing is a suit brought by Packer against the Franfords for “vexatious litigation,” or taking out a lawsuit intended only to harass someone.

Margolis said Bru has failed to make court-ordered escrow payments during the ongoing dispute. Packer said Bru has made all the payments, except one when he was forced to use the rent money to repair damage from a previous flood.

Water Rushes In

During a tour of his damaged and darkened coffee shop this week, Packer outlined his grievances against his landlords. The tour started in Bru’s main dining room, where Packer pointed out a white PVC gutter that runs from the roof down into the basement. The pipe is meant to drain water from the roof, but it has never really worked right, Packer said. Water comes into the coffee shop through the wall and gutter during any strong rain, and Friday’s torrent was especially strong, he said.

Packer said he was preparing a catering order when the rain started. He saw that it was coming down fast and went into the main room to warn his customers that flooding was likely.

Most rains, water pools on the floor but doesn’t reach the rug or table in the middle of the room. In this case, water covered the whole floor in a matter of seconds. The puddle came around the corner and reached nearly to the coffee shop’s door onto Orange Street, Packer said.

Meanwhile water and sewage were also pouring into the basement, Packer said. That’s also a regular occurrence during heavy rains, he said. “It’s always happened.”

Friday’s flood destroyed several shelves of paper products that were stored just above the floor, Packer said. Water somehow got into a refrigerator that had just been stocked that day with $850 worth of roast beef, turkey, eggs, and cheese, he said. Artists’ paintings and photographs stored in the basement were destroyed.

Packer said Bru’s loss so far is close to $10,000 including lost sales due to its emergency closure.

During a previous flood in May, sewage ran into the basement and the coffee shop lost some of its power. Packer said he determined that the electrical system in the panel was damage and arcing, causing a serious fire hazard.

Packer said he was forced to fix the problem immediately, using the rent money he would have paid into an escrow account with the court system. “If I left it, it probably would have burned the building down.”

But the judge didn’t look kindly on him missing a payment, Packer said. He could fix the current problems and open up again, but he’d have to miss another escrow payment, which would mean losing the court battle, Packer said.

“I just want to get open again,” Packer said. “It’s a stupid situation that should never have happened. ... I just have no idea why someone wouldn’t want to repair their building.”

“An Act Of God”

In the statement he released Friday, attorney Margolis said the landlords have done everything they were obligated to do and will repair the building.

“Orange Palladium promptly responded to this sudden and unexpected emergency by employing responsible local contractors to deal with the water damage caused by this storm,” the statement reads. “Bru Cafe has responded to the unfortunate situation by posting signs claiming that the damage to the building was caused by the landlord’s negligence, as if the landlord had caused the storm that most reasonable people would attribute to an act of God. It has resorted to inaccurate accusations and has caused the managers of the building to be harassed by numerous telephone calls to their homes from persons identifying themselves as customers of Bru Cafe.

“Orange Palladium will continue to act properly and with dispatch to see to it that the building is brought to complete repair even though it is not the cause of any water damage or mold problems being experienced by Bru Cafe. Any unresolved issues between the two parties should be resolved through cooperative efforts to resolve the same and not by name-calling and invective.”

ServPro Summoned, Stalled

After the flood, the landlord called the disaster clean-up and repair company ServPro in to assess the damage. Packer said the company found a number of serious problems, including water-damaged sheetrock near electrical outlets and, most troubling, what appeared to be black mold behind drywall near the basement stairs.

When they found the black rot, the ServPro workers stopped and said it would need to be tested before they could go on, Packer said. The repairs have been on hold since then, he said.

ServPro’s Serge Dmytruk said he’s ready to complete the job, he’s just waiting for the green light from Lynne Franford. “She told me basically they’re going to get in touch and take it from there.”

Since he found something that “looks like mold,” Dmytruk said, “I recommend them to get an industrial hygienist involved.” The material needs to be tested to determine if it is black mold, he said.

In the meantime, Dmytruk spotted another problem: The tenant and landlord aren’t working together. “They have to communicate with each other more.”