Retro Metro's lawsuit against the city of Jackson is defunct like Metrocenter after the Socrates Garrett and Leroy Walker-owned company lost in federal court yesterday.
Jackson leased the old McRae's building at the Metrocenter Mall from Retro Metro, LLC for over a decade. Mold, air conditioning, plumbing, and pothole problems bedeviled the employees who worked there in the building. The Jackson City Council voted in May 2023 to move its employees out of the building and terminate the lease.On September 14, 2023, Retro Metro LLC filed a Discrimination complaint against the City of Jackson, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Jackson City Council .
On July 18, 2023, the Jackson City Council violated the terms of the lease agreement by voting 3-1 to terminate the Lease agreement with Plaintiff Retro Metro, LLC. On or about August 11, 2023, the City sent written notice to Plaintiff Retro Metro, LLC., that it was terminating the lease. Defendant City of Jackson has not made the agreed upon lease payments and has been delinquent since August 1, 2023.
While in the process of unlawfully terminating the lease agreement between Retro Metro and the City of Jackson, the City sought out and signed rental agreements to lease space from white/majority owned companies who provided the exact same leased space to the exact same city divisions and personnel that were located in the space it leased from Retro Metro. It is undisputed that during the relevant time period Retro Metro, LLC., was and is a minority owned and operated company.
“It is unacceptable that any city, much less one that is 80% African American, take from minority owned businesses and give to WHITE owned business.” states Former Circuit Court Judge Malcolm Harrison, Retro Metro’s attorney. “City officials have an obligation to stop discrimination, not promote it. We are asking the Federal Court to reinstate the City’s lease agreement with Retro Metro”.
The Court dismissed the breach of lease claims in August as it held the lease was invalid since it was never posted on the minutes:
The Mississippi Supreme Court has recognized that “[t]he minutes rule produces harsh results,” Singing River MOB, 342 So." "3d 140, 153 (Miss. 2021) (citing Urb. Devs., 468 F.3d at 300), but it has also “repeatedly provided the simple solution: if you deal with public boards, you must assure that your contracts are recorded in the board minutes.” Id. (citing KPMG, 283 So. 3d at" "669; Wellness, Inc., 178 So. 3d at 1290; Thompson, 352 So. 2d at 796). Plaintiffs failed to do this and must suffer the consequences of that failure. Their breach of contract claim will be dismissed..The Individual Defendants were not properly served with process and plaintiffs have not demonstrated good cause for their failure to timely effect service on these defendants. The returns of service filed by plaintiffs as proof of service on defendants reflect that copies of the summons and complaint were served on “Angela Harris, Municipal Clerk, who is designated by law to accept service of process on behalf of City of Jackson on September 19, 2023.” While this was effective service of process on these defendants in their official capacities, it was not effective service on them in their individual capacities...
Judge Lee applied the coup de grace to the lawsuit and dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice yesterday. The Court held:
Indeed, the court has previously held that plaintiffs cannot demonstrate the existence of a valid lease agreement under Mississippi’s minutes rule. Moreover, plaintiffs have offered no evidence to refute the City’s proof that it terminated the purported lease because of the poor condition of the Belk building and not because of plaintiffs’ race. Instead, in support of their assertion that a jury issue is presented on their race discrimination claim, they rely solely on proof that the City, after terminating the putative lease with plaintiffs, leased office space from majority-white companies. This fact, however, in no way would support a reasonable finding that the City would not have terminated the lease but for plaintiffs’ race.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and the City Council lauded the Court's decision in a joint press release:
"Earlier this year, a federal court dismissed breach of lease claims that had been brought against the city, the mayor, and three councilmen by Retro Metro, LLC. Retro Metro had sued after the city vacated Metrocenter office space because of the deplorable conditions. Today, that same court dismissed the remaining claims brought by Retro Metro, which alleged the city had discriminated against Retro Metro because its owners are African-American, and because the city leased new space with majority-white companies. Retro Metro had sought damages exceeding $4.5 million. We are pleased that the court recognized that the city’s motivation in moving out of the Metrocenter was to protect its employees and the public from the poor condition of the building and not because of race, and we will continue to fight for the city and our citizens."
24 comments:
So Jackson is 80% minority and 20% majority.
Alleged "racial prejudice?" That's like calling the kettle black, right? (See what I did there?)
When a minority is in the majority, how can they be considered a minority?
Why in the world would a property owner with a nice juicy lease not keep the property up and the tenants happy? A nice lesson in how to convert chicken salad into chicken shit.
How dare the 80% city think it can lease from a white owned firm simply to avoid potholes, plumbing problems, rats, roaches, mold, mildew, wiring issues, and general delapidation. Where are their priorities anyway? Jeez.
So, a place gets run down and “deplorable” then the users of that place decide to go somewhere in fine condition; being in this case users = COJ. Hmmmm, I wonder if there is a lesson to be learned there.
Grifters fucking grifters.
I hate Leroy Walker involved in this. Knew him a long long time ago and he was a nice guy.
"It is unacceptable that any city, much less one that is 80% African American, take from minority owned businesses and give to WHITE owned business.” states Former Circuit Court Judge Malcolm Harrison, Retro Metro’s attorney.
Playing the race card on the Lumumba Administration, with a straight face and not even a hint of irony.
Sounds like Chokwe moved the employees out of there for the same reason people are moving out of Jackson. Ain't that some irony.
The City of Jackson was responsible for maintaining the property and its mechanical systems because this was a Triple-Net Lease. However, the issue here is that the Lease was invalid as it was never recorded in the Minutes. I feel bad for Leroy but not as much for Socrates. The blame should lie with their attorneys, who were responsible for the initial Lease Agreement and ensuring it was validated by being included in the Minutes when approved. Perhaps they should have considered paying the Mayor’s bribe request.
I wonder how many other COJ leases and contracts weren't properly published in the minutes and could thus be considered null and void... Is this solely incompetence or did they not want it out there for some reason?
It is strange that courts recognize the designation of a plaintiff's "minority" status to be so sturdy that it survives the plaintiff's demographic journey through time to be in the actual majority. If this persists, the "minority" majority will surely use their "minority" legal status as a political weapon against the current de facto minority which used to be the majority.
Jackson reminds me of the Fallout video games, where the ratio of bandits to normal people is like 10 to 1. Who are all these bandits robbing? Answer: Each other.
@2:31 PM A Fallout reference on a Thursday afternoon? Yep, it's Marty Robbins Time
If you can’t run a simple business like the above mentioned business, don’t sue and claim racial discrimination because no “Whities” come and spend their hard earned money with you.
Put what you think about these personalities aside. The judge dismissed the case because he deemed the lease invalid because it was never spread on the minutes. Let that sink in. How much stuff do you think the city forgot to include in the minutes over the last ten years?
Hmmmm! Guess they didn’t grease the Mayor’s campaign fund!
@ 1:22: Even if the lease were valid, since when is a lessee responsible for maintenance and ensuring a safe and habitable environment in leased property?
Wait they moved these employees out for mold but made the YT lady at TMH stay at her mold infested job or be fired....
4:43 Ummmm, that would be......in virtually every lease I've ever read
November 21, 2024 at 12:49 PM
Keyword: was
Racism! Racism! Racism! Mississippi's local version of Russia! Russia! Russia !
Walker and Garrett got in over their heads with Retro Metro. Metrocenter needs to be torn down, just as the Regency Mall, also opened in 1978, in Augusta, GA was torn down.
Post a Comment