Seccomandi v. 999 Restaurant Corp., Nello Balan, et. al.
July 13, 2012
(NYC Civil Court Civil Court, NY County, 11/3/2010)
Itkowitz obtained a judgment for our client, landlord Paul Seccomandi, against tenant Nello Balan, the well-known restaurateur, for rent arrears. During the pendency of the lawsuit, Balan transferred his ownership interest in at least two of his restaurants to third-party Madison Global, LLC (“Madison”). After Balan failed to satisfy the judgment, we commenced post-judgment discovery against Madison. We requested that Madison complete an information subpoena and produce documents related to the sale of the restaurant, including the restaurant asset purchase agreement (“RAPA”). We brought a motion to compel the production of the RAPA and the completion of the information subpoena. Madison asserted that it should not be compelled to produce the RAPA absent a confidentiality agreement since the information contained in the RAPA was a trade secret. The court found that there was no expectation of privacy between Madison and Balan, that Madison did not establish that information contained within the RAPA constituted a trade secret, and ordered Madison to produce the asset purchase agreement and complete the information subpoena. Link to Full Text of Decision
