Eduardo Maura of Ayala Law in Miami. Courtesy photo'Bullied' Stores Sue Miami Mall for Sparking 'Mass Exodus' Over Poor Conditions
Eduardo Maura of Ayala Law in Miami has filed a class action lawsuit against the owners of Miami's Mall of the Americas, and claims "the sentiment is unanimous" among small business owners that the conditions on their side of the mall are "unlivable."
September 21, 2018 at 05:15 PM
4 minute read
Eduardo Maura of Ayala Law in Miami has filed a putative class action lawsuit on behalf of a string of businesses that claim that landlords Sterling Retail Services Inc. and SC Mota Associates Partnership, which own the Miami Mall of the Americas, favored Costco's side of the retail center over theirs.
The named plaintiff is Ulises Ruiz, owner of Mota Pizza Rustica Corp., which opened in September 2015 with a $200,000 investment.
Plaintiff's photographs show scaffolding within Miami's Mall of the Americas. Photo: Eduardo Maura
It's a tale of two malls, according to the complaint.
There's the “Good Mall,” where retail giants Costco and Home Depot have set up shop, and there's the “Bad Mall,” on the other side of a recently erected wall, with a flurry of small businesses, which Maura claimed are suffering “unlivable” conditions.
“The Bad-Mall tenants do not fare as awesome as the Good-Mall tenants—not at all,” the complaint said.
According to Maura, “the sentiment is unanimous” among all tenants at the “Bad Mall.”
The contrast between the two is allegedly “so stark, as to make it almost seem as if there are two, intentionally and consciously separated malls within one,” the complaint said.
Click here to read the full complaint:
“After the mall entered into a deal with Costco, they paved that area, they made it nice for them,” Mauro said. “The mall pretty much lost interest in all the little stores.”
The allegedly “unlivable conditions” include portable bathrooms outside the mall, exposed grease traps, unsightly scaffolding and a food court with no air conditioning.
“You eat there and you sweat,” Maura said.
Plaintiff's photographs show exposed grease traps at the Mall of the Americas. Photo: Eduardo Maura/Ayala Law
Counsel to the defense, Jeremy E. Slusher of Slusher and Rosenblum in West Palm Beach, did not wish to comment on specific allegations, but said the lawsuit seemed like “retaliation” against Mota Pizza's impending eviction.
“We have a previously filed claim against them for eviction and unpaid rent, and suspect that this lawsuit they have filed is more of a defensive mechanism than anything else,” Slusher said.
According to Slusher, the pizzeria owes $24,000.
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