Licata Jewelers again suing Levis Commons

Licata Jewelers Inc., which won a lawsuit in early June against Levis Commons and its leasing agent, Hill Partners Inc., is suing the Perrysburg shopping center and leasing agent again, alleging the two defendants derailed the jewelry store's “going out of business” sale in mid-June.

In the lawsuit, which was filed Aug. 2 in Wood County Common Pleas Court and assigned to Judge Robert Pollex, store owner Joseph Licata seeks a jury trial, monetary damages above $25,000, punitive damages, and attorney's fees. He no longer operates a store in Levis Commons.

Mr. Licata alleges that after he won a $300,000 judgment on June 8 in a leasing dispute with the shopping center and Hill Partners, he launched a going-out-of-business sale a week later. But on June 15, the day after the sale began, he found he had been locked out of his building at Levis Commons and denied access to his $1.5 million inventory. Mr. Licata claims he had no notice of the impending lockout and subsequently had to move both the inventory and sale to another location, causing him lost sales, moving expenses, and distress.