Order up! Caplansky’s gets OK from courts to reopen
Posted June 10, 2016 12:23 pm.
Last Updated June 10, 2016 7:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A judge has ruled Caplansky’s Deli can reopen its doors on College Street after the restaurant was shuttered by the building’s landlord earlier this week.
The owner, Zane Caplansky, was in court on Friday morning to file an injunction to get back into his restaurant.
The judge ordered that Caplansky’s lease is valid and that it can resume its business. The locks were being cut on Friday, but the deli will reopen at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
“Well, I’m relieved we’re back to business,” Caplansky said following the verdict. “The lease is valid, we won the case and I’m relieved for our team of people.”
Just before midnight Monday, the landlord of the building that houses the deli changed the locks and posted a notice that he was terminating the restaurant’s lease.
According to the notice, the business was closed down because of a breach of the lease, specifically “failing to effect repairs not authorized by the landlord.”
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Caplansky’s lawyer Neil Abramson called the judge’s ruling “a win” while making it clear that there is “nothing else before the courts” at the moment. It’s not known if the landlord will pursue further action.
The owner, who was supported by some of his staff of 40 at court, acknowledged the win; however, said he was not happy to have to come to court when he has done nothing wrong.
Caplansky said he still doesn’t know why he was locked out. The landlord’s lawyer, Jim Morton, told the judge the issues involve health and safety regulations with the fire systems – an issue Caplansky said was “fictitious.”
“I don’t even know what health and safety issues they refer to, I really don’t,” Caplansky said. “As far as I’m concerned, this was fiction to begin with. There were conflicts we had with the lawyer, but everything was always remedied.”
The judge called it “grand tactics” and suggested the two parties can resolve the issues among themselves, or set some future dates if the landlord wishes to argue some future action.
“I stress the fact no materials have been produced which in any way demonstrate any impropriety or misconduct by the tenant which would in anyway justify the conduct,” Caplansky’s lawyer, Neil Abramson, said. “We just haven’t seen it. They haven’t produced it.”
On Wednesday, Caplansky parked his food truck in front of the empty restaurant to keep serving sandwiches to his loyal customers.
Caplansky recently opened a restaurant in Yorkville and is planning to open another at the Shops of Don Mills. His restaurants serve up five to six tons of smoked meat each week.
