Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2009 > April > 27 > Entry
‘Settlement conference’ scheduled in Dominic’s case
DAYTON — A federal judge has scheduled a “settlement conference” for Friday, May 1, in the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the former owner of Dominic’s Restaurant against her stepdaughter.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas M. Rose postponed until June 8 a hearing on the heart of the case that had been scheduled for Tuesday, April 28. That hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction, if it goes ahead, will likely include sworn testimony from the parties in the case in which Anne B. Mantia, who owned Dominic’s Restaurant in its final years until it closed in 2007, sued stepdaughter Christie Mantia, the granddaughter of Dominic’s founder Dominic Mantia, and two of Christie’s business partners in a new and as-yet-unnamed restaurant venture in West Carrollton.
It’s not clear whether the scheduling of such a “settlement conference” — which will be held in the judge’s chambers rather than in open court — suggests the possibility both sides are negotiating in an effort to reach an agreement that would prevent a lengthy court battle. Nicholas Subashi of Dayton, Christie Mantia’s attorney, declined comment this afternoon. James M. Morris, Anne Mantia’s attorney, said the hearing was postponed “at the defendant’s request.”
Rose has already granted Anne Mantia a temporary restraining order that prohibits Christie Mantia from using the name “Dominic’s” in connection with the new restaurant she is helping to develop, and for which she serves as general manager, at 630 E. Dixie Drive in West Carrollton. Judge Rose found that there was sufficient evidence that Christie Mantia has infringed upon Anne Mantia’s “Dominic’s” trademark and has violated a 2005 legal agreement between the two women in which Christie Mantia accepted $460,000 in exchange for giving up her right to use the name “Dominic’s.”
Christie Mantia’s comments in a March 19 Dayton Daily News article — in which she told the newspaper that the new restaurant had hired former Dominic’s chef Harry Lee and would serve “the original recipes” from Dominic’s — are at the heart of the case, as is the name of the restaurant’s parent company incorporated by the new restaurant’s owner Reece Powers III: “Dominic’s Restaurant Inc.” Lee and Powers are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Local restaurant news
Tweet
Comments
By John McFarland
April 28, 2009 9:42 AM | Link to this
OK. Since both of them were involved in running the restaurant after Dick’s death, how is it that anyone is able to identify that Anne v. Christie “ran” it into the ground? Funny how all of you are able to claim that it was bad, etc., but when it is posted on the news, you all comment. So bad that noone wants to talk about it? Guess not. Worth fighting for? Obviously. Worth paying $500,000 for? Obviously. And, most importantly, worth ignoring a contract where you got $500,000 for not using the name (Christie)? Obviously. Whatever personal issues are going on with Christie right now have nothing to do with the lawsuit. She violated her agreement, and Anne has the right to hold her to the contract.
By mms
April 28, 2009 9:24 AM | Link to this
I love when a newspaper reporter who knows about as much about about the legal system as I know about the newspaper business thinks a “settlement conference” is something so special that it should be put in quotes.
By Doug
April 28, 2009 9:05 AM | Link to this
I just liver Annie’s Way again.
By Paul J.
April 28, 2009 8:32 AM | Link to this
Dominic’s and McDonalds —- one in the same. HOGS —- to the trough!!!
By Arnold
April 28, 2009 8:22 AM | Link to this
Annie did run the business into the ground, Dominic’s wasn’t very good after her husband passed. But Christie is in the wrong nhere. She agreed not to use the domenic’s name and took money to nit use it.
By bob
April 28, 2009 7:57 AM | Link to this
Didn’t Annie run the biz IN THE GROUND?
By Arnie
April 28, 2009 6:30 AM | Link to this
Christie does not have half the talent Annie does and should stop trying to take what is not hers. She is tarnishing her family name. Loser!
By Arnie
April 28, 2009 6:27 AM | Link to this
Christie should hang it up. She does not have half the talent Annie has in her little finger. It is to bad she is trying to tarnish her family name.
By bob
April 27, 2009 11:17 PM | Link to this
Yeah…Annie knows what’s going on right now and this is all very insensitive given the circumstances.
By John McFarland
April 27, 2009 9:54 PM | Link to this
Drop it? Are you serious? She obtained a restraining order from a federal judge which states that she basically has WON, and you are claiming she should drop it? Wow. Guess if you bought your house for $500,000 and the sell$500,000 and the seller did something illegal in the sale of that house, and you no longer owned the house, you would “drop it”? Get serious. Anne Mantia is doing what anyone would do in a business where she owns the name and someone else is trying to steal it.
By bob
April 27, 2009 9:20 PM | Link to this
Out of respect, Annie should drop it and leave Christie alone. She is suffering enough right now.