A once decade-long relationship between Buca Inc. and the law firm Faegre & Benson is now the subject of a messy malpractice lawsuit brought by the owner of the Buca di Beppo chain of restaurants.
Buca claims that Faegre and three of its attorneys botched the 2006 sale of its "struggling" Vinny T's restaurant chain by omitting "a standard indemnity clause" to protect Buca from any future liabilities on leases at various Vinny T's locations.
"Thus, at the time of closing of what was only a $6.8 million transaction, Buca unwittingly remained saddled with some $37 million in contingent liabilities as guarantor of several Vinny T's leases," the lawsuit states.
The law firm denies the allegations.
Buca's lawsuit said that Vinny T's potential liabilities became real liabilities in 2010 as the Minneapolis-based company began to get default notices and lawsuit papers from landlords of Vinny T's due to nonpayment of rent by then-owner C&T Restaurant Management.
Buca eventually purchased the assets of the remaining Vinny T's in June 2010 for $3 million. Buca is a subsidiary of Florida-based Planet Hollywood International.
Faegre, the lawsuit states, "failed to follow the instructions of their client to include indemnity language" in the original purchase agreement.
Response from Faegre
