The trial court sided with Walsh. In her Aug. 27, 2013 decision to appoint a receiver to operate Jackass Flats until the conflict is resolved or the company is dissolved, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary K. Huffman wrote that Smith’s testimony in the case was “lacking in credibility.” Testimony during the trial occasionally got testy, with the judge interjecting at one point, “I understand the animosity between the two parties. I can listen through that and hear the facts.”
Gary J. Leppla, the attorney representing Smith, appealed the trial court’s decision, claiming Judge Huffman overstepped her authority in appointing a receiver to operate Jackass Flats. But in a unanimous decision issued two weeks ago, a three-judge panel of the Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals rejected the appeal.
Today, Jackass Flats remains open, but also for sale. It is operating under the oversight of court-appointed receiver Matthew Sorg, a Dayton attorney, who has hired a manager to run the bar.
In legal filings seeking to block any sale of Jackass Flats, Leppla said last week that the bar is now in “financial chaos,” and he called the record-keeping and accounting of the bar’s business activities “wholly unacceptable.”
Sorg declined to comment on specifics of the case, saying Leppla’s claims will be sorted out by the court after a hearing.
Attorneys for both of the bar’s co-owners expressed hope in December that mediation efforts could result in a settlement that would resolve the dispute and ownership issues. But no such settlement has occurred.
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