Hunts Point lawsuit hearing postponed
Hunts Point lawsuit hearing postponed
BRONX, NY -- In an abrupt and somewhat dramatic fashion, the local industry's heavyweight battle for a sprawling vacant warehouse here has been postponed nine days.
The lawsuit was brought by the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association, Inc., here, against New York City's Economic Development Corp., the New York City Business Integrity Commission and one of the market's major customers, Baldor Specialty Foods Inc., also based in the Bronx.
By 1:55 p.m. on March 13, the contenders were prepared for a legal slugfest in the Bronx courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez. Bright-looking young associates of the market's high-powered attorneys had checked and rechecked the order of face-down poster board exhibits. Baldor attorneys had aligned neatly stacked deep piles of documents on tables facing the judge's bench.
Sitting to the right with their support team in hard wooden courtroom pews were Baldor Chief Executive Officer Kevin Murphy and President Mike Muzyk. On the opposing side were officers of the Hunts Point Cooperative: Matthew D'Arrigo, Steve Katzman and Joe Palumbo. Daniel Kane Jr., president of the Bronx-based Teamsters Local 202, sat with his Hunts Point allies, who among other issues, want to avoid head-on competition with Baldor's non-union produce warehouse and distribution.
When it was beyond the 2 p.m. hearing time, a court representative wearing reading glasses called all attorneys to the front of the room.
After a few quiet words, attorneys returned to their bases, whispered to their respective clients and minutes later were summoned to a back room. Judge Gonzalez was going to be ill for months and a new judge from Manhattan, Lucy Billings, would be assigned to hear the lawsuit.
The attorneys returned again to the pews to tell their clients that the hearing had been postponed until March 22 at 9:30 a.m.
The lawsuit involves a 185,000-square-foot warehouse that was vacated last July by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. in Montvale, NJ. This city-owned property is immediately across Food Center Drive from the exit gate of the Hunts Point Terminal Market. Despite the fact that the city's Economic Development Corp. has worked with the Hunts Point Market for years to resolve the matter of a lack of space to rebuild the market, the corporation last fall issued a request for proposal to lease the 12.8-acre property, with interested parties given a week to respond. Baldor proposed paying annual rent of $2,669,500, while the cooperative offered annual rent of $1.2 million. On Dec. 1, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced at a press conference in the Hunts Point market that Baldor was the successful bidder.
The cooperative subsequently filed its lawsuit, contending that something was askew in being given only a week to respond to the proposal. Hunts Point market dealers acknowledge Baldor's importance as a key customer to their market and insist there is nothing personal against the leaders of Baldor, but they contend that the Economic Development Corp. made a huge error in judgment by not consulting the market first for using the A&P property for the market's much-needed expansion.
Subtopics in the market's complaints are that Baldor is not unionized, nor union-friendly, and would create unfair competition across the street from the largest market in the country, which plays a vital role in New York's entire food consumption pattern.
New York City Business Integrity Commission is included in the Hunts Point lawsuit because the commission very strictly monitors the nature of business dealings within the market, while not regulating two dozen competitors who have set up operations immediately outside the market's gated 110 acres.
The Hunts Point Cooperative maintains that this selective regulation puts the market at a competitive disadvantage. Baldor has responded that it won the bid fair and square and has no plans to compete in the same cash-and-carry business as the market operators.
Unionization is a key component in the lawsuit, with Baldor claiming to offer generous benefits to workers. The Hunts Point Cooperative attorneys charge that Baldor is a "union- busting shop" that would be a dangerous and unfair competitor if armed with a huge warehouse that was more easily accessible than the high-security Hunts Point market. Currently, Baldor's warehouse is 17 blocks from Hunts Point.
If none of the produce companies are making this a personal matter, their attorneys seem to be presenting documents that unabashedly detail alleged sins of the opposing parties.
Matthew D'Arrigo, co-president of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association, said of implications of the postponement, "I don't think there are any conclusions that can be drawn about it."
Mr. D'Arrigo had learned that Judge Billings is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and Smith College in Massachusetts who has also worked for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Randy Mastro of the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Manhattan, who is representing the Hunts Point Cooperative Association, was asked March 14 how the postponement would affect the lawsuit. His response was: "We look forward to arguing the case next week. We were ready to argue the merits of the case yesterday. It is a very important case, and we look forward to getting a court ruling."
When asked whether it is an unusual situation to postpone the start of a case when everyone was present and ready to go, Mr. Mastro replied, "There are occasions when there are situations that arise that cause postponements of court hearing dates, and we just look forward to arguing the case on the merits."
Attorney Helen Davis Chaitman of Phillips Nizer LLP in New York, who was prepared to represent Baldor at the March 13 hearing, declined to comment on the postponement.
The lawsuit was brought by the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association, Inc., here, against New York City's Economic Development Corp., the New York City Business Integrity Commission and one of the market's major customers, Baldor Specialty Foods Inc., also based in the Bronx.
By 1:55 p.m. on March 13, the contenders were prepared for a legal slugfest in the Bronx courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez. Bright-looking young associates of the market's high-powered attorneys had checked and rechecked the order of face-down poster board exhibits. Baldor attorneys had aligned neatly stacked deep piles of documents on tables facing the judge's bench.
Sitting to the right with their support team in hard wooden courtroom pews were Baldor Chief Executive Officer Kevin Murphy and President Mike Muzyk. On the opposing side were officers of the Hunts Point Cooperative: Matthew D'Arrigo, Steve Katzman and Joe Palumbo. Daniel Kane Jr., president of the Bronx-based Teamsters Local 202, sat with his Hunts Point allies, who among other issues, want to avoid head-on competition with Baldor's non-union produce warehouse and distribution.
When it was beyond the 2 p.m. hearing time, a court representative wearing reading glasses called all attorneys to the front of the room.
After a few quiet words, attorneys returned to their bases, whispered to their respective clients and minutes later were summoned to a back room. Judge Gonzalez was going to be ill for months and a new judge from Manhattan, Lucy Billings, would be assigned to hear the lawsuit.
The attorneys returned again to the pews to tell their clients that the hearing had been postponed until March 22 at 9:30 a.m.
The lawsuit involves a 185,000-square-foot warehouse that was vacated last July by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. in Montvale, NJ. This city-owned property is immediately across Food Center Drive from the exit gate of the Hunts Point Terminal Market. Despite the fact that the city's Economic Development Corp. has worked with the Hunts Point Market for years to resolve the matter of a lack of space to rebuild the market, the corporation last fall issued a request for proposal to lease the 12.8-acre property, with interested parties given a week to respond. Baldor proposed paying annual rent of $2,669,500, while the cooperative offered annual rent of $1.2 million. On Dec. 1, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced at a press conference in the Hunts Point market that Baldor was the successful bidder.
The cooperative subsequently filed its lawsuit, contending that something was askew in being given only a week to respond to the proposal. Hunts Point market dealers acknowledge Baldor's importance as a key customer to their market and insist there is nothing personal against the leaders of Baldor, but they contend that the Economic Development Corp. made a huge error in judgment by not consulting the market first for using the A&P property for the market's much-needed expansion.
Subtopics in the market's complaints are that Baldor is not unionized, nor union-friendly, and would create unfair competition across the street from the largest market in the country, which plays a vital role in New York's entire food consumption pattern.
New York City Business Integrity Commission is included in the Hunts Point lawsuit because the commission very strictly monitors the nature of business dealings within the market, while not regulating two dozen competitors who have set up operations immediately outside the market's gated 110 acres.
The Hunts Point Cooperative maintains that this selective regulation puts the market at a competitive disadvantage. Baldor has responded that it won the bid fair and square and has no plans to compete in the same cash-and-carry business as the market operators.
Unionization is a key component in the lawsuit, with Baldor claiming to offer generous benefits to workers. The Hunts Point Cooperative attorneys charge that Baldor is a "union- busting shop" that would be a dangerous and unfair competitor if armed with a huge warehouse that was more easily accessible than the high-security Hunts Point market. Currently, Baldor's warehouse is 17 blocks from Hunts Point.
If none of the produce companies are making this a personal matter, their attorneys seem to be presenting documents that unabashedly detail alleged sins of the opposing parties.
Matthew D'Arrigo, co-president of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association, said of implications of the postponement, "I don't think there are any conclusions that can be drawn about it."
Mr. D'Arrigo had learned that Judge Billings is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and Smith College in Massachusetts who has also worked for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Randy Mastro of the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Manhattan, who is representing the Hunts Point Cooperative Association, was asked March 14 how the postponement would affect the lawsuit. His response was: "We look forward to arguing the case next week. We were ready to argue the merits of the case yesterday. It is a very important case, and we look forward to getting a court ruling."
When asked whether it is an unusual situation to postpone the start of a case when everyone was present and ready to go, Mr. Mastro replied, "There are occasions when there are situations that arise that cause postponements of court hearing dates, and we just look forward to arguing the case on the merits."
Attorney Helen Davis Chaitman of Phillips Nizer LLP in New York, who was prepared to represent Baldor at the March 13 hearing, declined to comment on the postponement.
