Media Borough settles for $30,000 with Brodeur’s
Nov 03
At the October 21st Borough Council Legislative meeting, Borough Council voted to unanimously accept the item titled “Ratification of Mutual Release Agreement for Former Tenant at 1 West State Street.”
The “former tenant” is, of course, Dan Brodeur of “Brodeur’s.” Last November, Mr. Brodeur shut down his restaurant, and moved out equipment and supplies without notifying the Borough.
An anonymous source to Media, PA News indicated that Brodeur’s employees had to meet their manager at the local Wawa in order to pick up their final paychecks.
Media, PA News retrieved the document, which outlined the terms of settlement between the Borough of Media, and Mr. Dudley, Inc. the business which ran Brodeur’s:
- Brodeur must pay the borough $30,000 before August 16th, 2010 (which has passed)
- Upon receipt of the $30,000, the Media Borough will discontinue any legal action against Brodeur’s business Mr. Dudley, Inc.
Both parties agreed not to talk to the media about the agreement:
The document was signed by:
- Pete Alyanakian, Borough Council President
- Daniel J. Brodeur
- David J. Brodeur
And was witnessed by:
- Jeffrey A. Smith, Borough Manager
- Two illegible signatures
- Harmony D. Davis, a Notary Public in the State of Florida
While Media Borough finally received their $30,000 in back rent, apparently they did not recoup the legal fees accrued suing Brodeur for breaking the lease.
Despite the wording of the document which states, “The terms of this Release shall be kept confidential by the parties, their employees …”, Media Borough Manager Jeffrey Smith indicated that once the document had been ratified by Borough Council, it became a public document, and verified that the Borough Solicitor has confirmed this fact.
Download the agreement between Media Borough and Dan and David Brodeur a.k.a. Mr. Dudley Inc. (PDF file)
Why in heavens name did they allow the Brodeurs to stick the citizens of media for the cost of forcing them to live up to the lease they signed?
Could it possibly have anything to do with Broduers support of republicans and the makeup of the cabal that usurped control of the Council?
Why the secrecy?
This is just another outrage committed against the citizens of Media by this crew.
Before you jump to any conclusions, there were things associated with this deal which were out of the control of the current Borough Council.
Specifically, the lease which was signed with New Orleans Café was prepared by a previous solicitor, and apparently lacked a “Confession of Judgement” clause, which essentially means that if Brodeur’s stops paying rent, they are automatically considered “guilty” in a court of law. Without that clause, they can litigate as they did.
As well, the lease was “transferred” from the previous tenant, and apparently there were issues with how that was done legally. Brodeur’s original defense was that there was no lease, which is related to the issues with the transfer.
Bottom line, a “secret” deal was hashed out that lets the Brodeurs skip out on paying costs that were FORCED on the citizens of Media due to their unethical behavior.
There may, MAY be a miniscule legal point to be argued out, that’s what the courts are for.
NOT “secret” deals that a supposedly open government tries to slip through that help friends of the cabal and screw the citizens of Media.
Well … I’ll have to respectfully disagree. While I understand that there’s some history with Mr. Alyanakian and Mr. Brodeur, there’s no evidence that anything unethical took place.
From what I’ve learned, it was an inherited contract which was, unfortunately, out of the control of the current borough council.
If you have some sort of investigative proof that something illicit or unfair occurred, please feel free to share it.
Otherwise, it’s simply rumor.
The fact that at least they paid the back rent is encouraging. The litigation costs are, unfortunately, the cost of doing business, in my opinion.
Perhaps you should investigate?
“there’s some history with Mr. Alyanakian and Mr. Brodeur, there’s no evidence that anything unethical took place.”
Did Mr. Alyankan recuse himself from voting on this?
THAT stinks of unethical conduct to me.