Category of deceased Publico co-owner sues remaining owner over economic dispute

19 October 2022

COLUMBIA — The family of the departed co-owner of several notable restaurants is suing outstanding owner Mike Duganier more than a financial dispute, according to Richland County court filings. The particular complaint alleges that Duganier, co-owner of two Columbia Publico locations and Boku in the Vista, closed Publico Atlanta in the early summertime without notifying or paying his former partner’s property for their share of a financial debt the Atlanta location due to Publico Greene Road. In addition to the dispute over that will debt of more than $1. five million, the complaint states that Duganier has failed to give financial information on the state from the businesses to the family of their former business partner, Robert “Bob” McCarthy or to buy their portion of the businesses. Duganier claimed, in a responding courtroom filing, that McCarthy’s property has refused to conform to the original operating agreement, which usually Duganier and McCarthy, together with another business partner who might be no longer with the companies, agreed upon in 2015. He informed Free Times he’s offered all financial materials — including login information in order to his company’s accounting software program, Quickbooks — to McCarthy’s family. “(Bob) was the nearest thing to me for two decades and I was the closest individual to him for two decades, ” Duganier told Totally free Times. “Not only do I work for him designed for so long, but then we continued this journey together plus created this company. ” Duganier and McCarthy were each equal owners of 4 restaurants — three within Columbia and the location associated with Publico in Atlanta, based on the complaint.

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The lawsuit, submitted in mid-July, comes just a little less than a year after McCarthy died on Nov. twenty-eight and just a few months after Duganier opened two new dining places in Columbia, Boku within the Vista in February plus Publico at BullStreet in-may, which were both in the functions at the time of McCarthy’s death. The particular legal filing from McCarthy’s estate alleges that financing for Publico at BullStreet and Boku was given by loans guaranteed to McCarthy. Nevertheless , according to Duganier and his courtroom response, at the time of McCarthy’s loss of life the pair had requested a Small Business Administration loan to complete work on Boku and construct Publico at BullStreet, yet an error with an online type on the SBA’s side resulted in McCarthy’s signature on the documents not going through. While the problem with the estate looms, Duganier said he’s unable to get the money from the SBA mortgage. Even so, he has opened the 2 restaurants without the SBA financing, he said.

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In 06, Publico Atlanta, which opened up in 2018, shut down, citing “changes happening in Midtown (Atlanta) along with the growth in our company in SC, inch on its social media. The particular Facebook post announcing the particular closure said that My Sister’s Room, a well-known saphic girls bar in Atlanta, might take over the space. According to the problem from McCarthy’s estate, the particular Atlanta location borrowed close to $1. 5 million in the original Publico, located in 5 Points, over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. McCarthy’s estate statements, in the lawsuit, that Duganier deemed that debt “worthless and uncollectible. “In court papers, Duganier’s lawyer said the particular Publico Atlanta location by no means recovered from the effects of the particular COVID-19 pandemic and a completely independent appraiser found the debt to become worthless and uncollectible. The procedure for deciding the really worth of Duganier’s and McCarthy’s shared assets was organized in an original operating contract, which Duganier said McCarthy’s family has refused to follow along with. An attorney for McCarthy’s household told Free Times how the family was not interested in activities on the situation but refused Duganier’s claim that they we hadn’t followed the operating contract. The attorney said that they had hired an independent appraiser, the requirement set by the working agreement. Duganier told Totally free Times in previous selection interviews that the pair were pals and shared a really like of Frank Sinatra. Upon Boku’s menu, Duganier called one of the entrees “General Bob’s Chicken” in honor of his buddy and business partner. “I want to make him proud, inch Duganier told Free Moments in a previous interview. “He was so passionate about the business enterprise and he was truly delighted doing it. ” Boku, the particular recently opened restaurant within the Vista, hosted a Drinks for Cancer event previously this month in an attempt to increase funds and awareness to get cancer prevention. The Fb post about the event mentioned it will be hosted on McCarthy’s birthday annually.

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The suit was sent to business courtroom in Richland County in late August and is set to visit mediation on Nov. fifteen, both parties confirmed. Unless the particular parties settle before going in order to court, an attorney for McCarthy’s family said he desires the case to take nine a few months to a year to reach the judge.

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