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Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2009 > September > 02 > Entry
Employees suffer in Duke’s court fight
Eric Hainline of West Carrollton — married father of two children, ages 2 and 5 — said he was on the verge of foreclosure after the first time a federal judge ordered Duke’s restaurant to close for more than a month earlier this year.
But Hainline’s situation improved greatly when the restaurant that is at the heart of a federal trademark-infringement lawsuit was allowed to reopen in late June and remain open throughout the summer. Hainline, a server at the restaurant, said he was able to save enough money to plan a vacation with his family.
Now, the restaurant has been ordered to shut down again indefinitely by a federal judge who ruled that Duke’s owner Reece Powers III and its chef, Harry Lee, are in contempt of court for violating a court order regarding what dishes they could serve. The closing will affect 35 to 40 employees, Powers said.
Hainline said today, Sept. 2, that he and his fellow restaurant employees will be hit hardest by the shutdown. “Finding another restaurant job is going to be impossible,” he said. The 32-year-old father lamented the upcoming conversation when he’ll have to “look into my kids’ faces” and tell them their vacation is canceled.
Hainline has a part-time job outside of the restaurant, but said most of his fellow servers are “single moms or young moms who are trying to provide for their kids, to put food on the table.”
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas M. Rose ruled Tuesday that Powers and Lee must “immediately cease and desist from the operation of the restaurant at 630 E. Dixie Drive in West Carrollton.” Rose said Powers acknowledged in testimony that he was violating the judge’s order that Duke’s serve only the menu submitted as that of Duke’s Golden Ox, the now-defunct Dayton restaurant that was operated by Powers’ uncle, Raymond “Duke” Morris.
The judge noted that Duke’s owner was unable to reach an agreed-upon menu with the attorney for former Dominic’s restaurant owner Anne B. Mantia, who filed the lawsuit against Powers and Lee. The judge’s preliminary injunction limited the menu strictly to the Duke’s Golden Ox menu unless both sides could agree to modifications. Mantia’s attorney sought a contempt-of-court ruling against Powers and Lee, and the judge agreed.
Today, Powers’ attorney, Michael Botros, filed a motion urging Judge Rose to reconsider his ruling, the first step toward appealing the decision. Botros argued that Rose overstepped his authority by issuing a harsh penalty for a civil, not criminal, contempt-of-court finding, and erred in not giving Powers a chance to resolve the menu dispute and reopen his restaurant.
Duke’s was open for lunch today but will not reopen for dinner service tonight, Powers said this afternoon.
Powers said his employees “all live in the area, and they stayed with us before” during the previous forced shutdown. “But many of them won’t be able to stay with us this time because they cannot afford to.”
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