$120 Million Judgment Affirmed in Palm Restaurant Licensing Dispute

Firm News

The Appellate Division, First Department today unanimously affirmed the $120 million trial verdict in favor of DRD clients Gary Ganzi, Claire Ganzi Breen and the Estate of Charles Cook, who sued derivatively on behalf of Just One More Restaurant Corporation(“JOMR”) and Just One More Holding Corporation. The First Department affirmed the 2019 judgment of Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masely, who ruled that defendants Walter J. Ganzi, Jr. and Bruce E. Bozzi, Sr. breached their fiduciary duty as majority shareholders of the corporations by engaging in self-dealing licensing transactions for use of the intellectual property to the famous Palm Restaurants. Instead of charging the market rate of 5% of gross sales, defendants impermissibly licensed JOMR’s intellectual property to their wholly owned restaurants for the nominal flat rate of $6000 per restaurant per year. Defendants also charged themselves a mere $12,000 for the right to sublicense the intellectual property to third parties. In all, Justice Masely awarded our clients more than $70 million in damages and more than $50 million in interest.

The decision can be found in the following link: Gari-Ganzi-et-al-v.-Walter-Ganzi-Jr.-et-al-Appellate-Division