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Sushi Mambo owners win $860,000 award after filing Napa lawsuit – Napa Valley Register

January 27, 2021 by ADSWineReporter

sushi-mambo-owners-win-$860,000-award-after-filing-napa-lawsuit-–-napa-valley-register

Sushi Mambo owners win $860,000 award after filing Napa lawsuit



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Andy Beckstoffer and the Sushi Mambo building

Grapegrower Andy Beckstoffer is shown in early 2014 after he purchased the building that housed the Sushi Mambo restaurant. The structure sustained heavy damage in that year’s earthquake. Sushi Mambo’s owners sued Beckstoffer Vineyards, alleging that their lease had been wrongfully terminated after the quake. 




Sushi Mambo takes Beckstoffer Vineyards to court (copy)

Sushi Mambo, now located in Calistoga, filed a lawsuit against Beckstoffer Vineyards in 2016, alleging the lease on their downtown Napa restaurant had been wrongfully terminated after the 2014 earthquake. 

Napa’s former Sushi Mambo restaurant was wrongfully forced to close in 2014 and its lease wrongfully terminated by landlord Beckstoffer Vineyards, according to an arbitration ruling.

Sushi Mambo business owners Renee and Jose Cazares were awarded $859,838.81. A total of $225,888 was awarded as damages. A total of $582,760 goes towards attorney’s fees. The balance goes to arbitration fees.

The Cazares’ claims for fraud, deceit and other damages were denied by the arbitrator, who ruled Dec. 8.

“After a long and tortuous litigation, Sushi Mambo prevailed,” said an email statement from Kenneth Frucht, attorney for the restaurant owners. He declined to comment further.

Sushi Mambo, which opened in downtown Napa in 1997 and is now located in Calistoga, filed a lawsuit in 2016 in Napa County Superior Court against Beckstoffer Vineyards, which bought the building just months before the earthquake in 2014. Beckstoffer Vineyards is owned by Napa Valley resident Andy Beckstoffer.

“Basically my clients were thrown out on the sidewalk by the landlord,” said another Sushi Mambo attorney, William H. Paynter, in 2016.

Kevin Block, the Napa attorney who represents Beckstoffer Vineyards, said on Thursday that his client will file a motion in Napa Superior Court to vacate the arbitration award.

“We think the court will throw out the arbitrator’s decision,” Block said this week.

The arbitrator failed to decide the key question necessary to resolve the parties’ dispute: how long it would take to repair damage to the defendant’s unreinforced masonry building, wrote Block.

The next hearing for that motion is set for Feb. 19.

All parties agreed that the historic building located at 1202 First St. was damaged in the 6.0 earthquake, but the extent of that damage was contested.

Beckstoffer Vineyards deemed the building a “total loss,” which Block said means that the structural damage was estimated to take more than six months to repair. The lease was automatically terminated due to this classification, he said in a 2016 interview.

If repairs to the building were estimated to take less than six months, he said, it would have been deemed only a “partial loss” and the lease would have remained active.

“The building was completely uninhabitable,” Block said. It ultimately took 18 months to fix the building, he said.

However, Renee Cazares said she felt that Beckstoffer used the earthquake as an excuse to kick the restaurant to the curb before the lease expired in January 2016.

“We think the evidence will show that it was based on the fact that they didn’t want the tenant there anymore,” Paynter said in a 2016 Napa Register story.

Sushi Mambo opened at 1631 Lincoln Ave. in Calistoga — what was originally planned as a second location — 45 days after the earthquake.

The disaster had a devastating effect on his investment, Beckstoffer said at the time. Two of the building’s walls hadn’t been retrofitted and were severely damaged, he said, and there was also damage to the roof.

He said it would have been cheaper to tear down the building, which was built in 1905 and housed the Napa Valley Register until 1965, but he bought the space because of its history.

Beckstoffer has since aligned the building with the First Street Napa complex and the adjacent Archer hotel. The current tenant is Overland Sheepskin Co. described online as “a retailer dedicated to high-end accessories, outerwear & shoes made from sheepskin, leather & fur.”

Watch now: Napa kids learn to fence at the Napa Valley Fencing Academy

Photos: Dress up your pet day, 2021

Mia

Mia

Submitted by Jenni Rippey of Napa


Marshall

Marshall

Submitted by Karen Trippe Mannix of Napa


Yoda

Yoda

Yoda as Captain Jack. Submitted by Russell Jones.


Lilly and Ted

Lilly and Ted

“These two love to dress up for every season,” says Michelle of Napa. “Lilly is 10 and Ted is 6. Lilly does lots of tricks like a circus dog, and Ted loves to catch Frisbees.”


Sammy

Sammy

“Sammy decked out for his 18th Christmas party,” says Chris Edwards and Rene Sepulveda of Napa County. “Not many pups make it to 18 and still walk a half a mile a day.”


Finn

Finn

“Finn is a very personable polydactyl, who we adopted from the Napa County Animal Shelter,” says Katrina O’Quinn of Napa.


Penny

Penny

“Penny, one of our champs, in her ‘bizzy bee’ costume,” says Laura Dayton of Napa’s Astro’s Agility Academy.


Nicely Nicely

Nicely Nicely

“He’d been in the shelter for months, an un-adopted gorgeous black cat, like thousands of other black cats in shelters across the US,” says Maria Binchet of Yountville. “I knew he was special from the moment I met him, and he came home with me. Little did I know 7 years ago that he had a pyrotechnic personality. He shakes hands, high-fives, walks on a leash, plays catch with ping-pong balls, comes up and nuzzles several times day.”


Beans

Beans

“This is our buddy Beans,” says Napa native Allison Healy. “He’s been our sidekick for 10 years! He’s a little excited for Halloween and couldn’t wait to try his costume on.”


Mochi

Mochi

“Mochi the maltipoo recently turned 4 years old!,” reports Guadalupe Vega of Napa. “He loves to go on walks, and he loves to play with his favorite raccoon toy! He is such a crazy doggy.”


Bear

Bear

“Bear is a very good companion. He is also an awesome watch dog,” said Chris Rubio of Rutherford. “He loves his buddy Rocco and his girlfriend Nala. His favorite thing is to go for a walk along the river and jump in every now and then. He also loves to chase Jack Rabbits. We love him and consider him part of our family!”


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Need affordable housing? A proposed Napa development, Monarch Landing, is coming your way. 

The Napa couple convicted of killing 3-year-old Kayleigh Slusher in 2014 will be resentenced after a state appeals court overturned one portio…

Napa Valley is famous for its brick and mortar restaurant scene. But ghost kitchens centered on to-go service could change that.

Napa’s former Sushi Mambo restaurant was wrongfully forced to close in 2014 and its lease wrongfully terminated by landlord Beckstoffer Vineya…

Ian Rogers, the longtime Napa auto repair shop owner arrested last week, will face 28 felony counts of possessing bombs and illegal firearms a…

Vaccine distribution is ongoing in Napa County and has been made complicated by the wavering availability of the vaccine itself. 

A coalition of more than 50 Napa Valley businesses — some of them anonymous — have sued Gov. Gavin Newsom over the right to resume hosting out…

A 3-acre Yountville parcel, best known as the home to the French Laundry culinary garden, has sold for $9 million.

Steve Hendrickson was a four-year varsity football standout for Napa High who also played for Cal and reached Super Bowls with the San Francis…

You can reach reporter Jennifer Huffman at 256-2218 or jhuffman@napanews.com

Filed Under: Vineyards

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