St. Louis Cathedral
New Orleans, Louisiana
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In the News
Judge hears SoGo Live lease dispute
Advocate
June 16, 2006
A judge ruled this morning that downtown nightclub SoGo Live can’t wait until a financial dispute with its landlord is resolved before vacating its spot in the Belle of Baton Rouge atrium. However, an appeal the club’s attorney planned to file this morning would keep the club where it is until the appeal is heard.
U.S. 19th Judicial District Judge Tim Kelley also threw out a claim by Jazz Enterprises Inc., owned by Belle of Baton Rouge operator Columbia Sussex Inc., that SoGo did not renew its lease in time. Also, Jazz dropped its own claims that SoGo didn’t pay rent for two months after acknowledging it had received the checks but did not cash them.
Kelley said the dispute over how much money Jazz owes SoGo for terminating its lease early is a separate matter, but that the early termination clause doesn’t explicitly say payment must be made first. He said Louisiana law is that, when not specified otherwise, payment must be made in a reasonable amount of time. If a tenant could stay until payment was received, it could effectively deny the landlord its right to terminate by objecting to any amount proffered.
Jazz and SoGo’s disagreement as to how much SoGo is owed continues.
SoGo attorney Stephen Babcock said his client still contends that the payment is a prerequisite for SoGo’s departure and said he plans to file an appeal this morning that would suspend Kelley’s judgment until the appeal is heard.
He said SoGo’s business has been hurt by media reports containing Jazz’s allegations SoGo had not paid two months rent and was vindicated by testimony that it had in fact gotten paid but hadn’t cashed the checks. Likewise, he was pleased Kelley agreed with SoGo’s contention that Jazz couldn’t say the way SoGo had always renewed its lease was now improper.
Columbia Sussex has refused to comment since the issue surfaced, but testimony this morning revealed the company had decided the younger crowd SoGo attracted wasn’t consistent with the older demographic the casino pulls in.
