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Sebastian seeks dismissal of waterfront
restaurant's lawsuit
Posted: Friday, August 9, 2013 5:00 am
SEBASTIAN — The City of Sebastian is asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit that was filed
against it by the owners of a restaurant that briefly operated at the city's working waterfront
project in 2011.
Vero Beach attorney Buck Vocelle was brought on to assist the city in handling the lawsuit
and filed the motion to dismiss late last week.
Vocelle argues, in part, that Fisherman's Landing Restaurant's complaint isn't with the city,
but with the nonprofit fishermen's group, Fisherman's Landing Sebastian.
It is not known when the judge will make a ruling on the motion to dismiss the city from the
lawsuit.
The restaurant had a sub -lease with the fish market in the building, not with the city, Vocelle
points out in the motion.
On that basis alone, the city should be removed from the suit, he states.
The restaurant, run by Debbie McManus and her family, alleges that the city, the fishermen's
group, and Crab -E Bill's Indian River Seafood, wooed them to open the restaurant and make
improvements to the site. Attorney John Madden, of Stuart, filed the suit on behalf of
Fisherman's Landing Restaurant, which was in operation between September and October
2011, and is seeking more than $15,000 in damages – the threshold needed to get the lawsuit
heard in Circuit Court.
Madden states in the lawsuit that the restaurant made more than $100,000 worth of
improvements to the former Hurricane Harbor property, bringing in a commercial -grade
kitchen, and paid thousands of dollars in rent.
The lawsuit makes two complaints – that the defendants fraudulently induced the restaurant to
set up in the working waterfront building formerly known as Hurricane Harbor and that the
defendants unjustly benefited from the work the restaurant did.
Not so, according to Vocelle's motion to dismiss.
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Sebastian seeks dismissal of waterfront restaurant's lawsuit - VeroNews: Sebastian Go... Page 2 of 3
The lawsuit against the city and the other defendants also alleges that they knew how the
restaurant was building out the kitchen and never pointed out that it was beyond the scope of
the Stan Mayfield Working Waterfront Grant and related management plan.
"During the course of the build out, representatives of the City of Sebastian, (Fisherman's
Landing Sebastian), and (Crab -E Bill's Indian River Seafood), often toured the premises and
in fact, even made recommendations to (the restaurant) as to the build out and set up of the
restaurant area," the lawsuit reads.
The suit also claims that City Manager Al Minner came into the restaurant during the first
week of its opening and had dinner with his wife at the bar.
"Nothing was said as to how the restaurant was operating at that point in time," the lawsuit
reads.
So who should have ensured the restaurant knew the conditions placed on the food service?
The restaurant argues that it didn't know about the plan, only that it had an agreement with
Crab -E Bill's to open an eatery.
Vocelle contends that it was not incumbent upon the city to address the changes to the kitchen
or its operation, noting that the sublease between the restaurant and Fisherman's Landing
Sebastian states that the written document "contains the entire agreement between the parties
and there are no further or other agreements or understandings, written or oral in effect
between the parties relating to its subject matter."
Vocelle also points out that the sublease the restaurant had refers back to the Stan Mayfield
Working Waterfront Grant and the accompanying management plan, under which the
restaurant was to operate.
Both documents refer to food service as being "limited" in nature.
The management plan, written more than a year before Fisherman's Landing Restaurant
signed onto the site, reads in part, "The City envisions offering approximately 6 tables for
limited food service, served from the fish market counter. Limited food service means foods
easily prepared that do not require a full scale kitchen (i.e. steamed clams, clam strips, or the
`catch of the day' prepared to go)."
Under the Stan Mayfield Working Waterfront Grant, the State of Florida has oversight of the
project through the Florida Communities Trust.
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