Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Something tells us we'll be seeing lots of lawsuits like this over the next few months. One Central Park West Property Limited, which controls the condo portion of the Trump International Hotel & Tower, has filed suit against a would-be buyer who agreed to buy a 29th-floor unit for $7.8 million, but backed out of the deal in December. A tanking real estate market isn't a justifiable reason for pulling out of a deal, of course, which may explain why the buyer, listed in court papers as Franpearl LLC, justified its decision by citing a sculpture, bar table, and coffee table that were mistakenly included on the condo's initial inventory list. The buyer initially requested, and was eventually granted, a $25,000 price cut because of the mix-up, but Franpearl later opted to abandon the purchase altogether. But because it's probably easier to just sue the buyer you thought you had rather than find a new prospect, 1CPW is now suing FranPearl and asking to not only keep its $780,000 deposit, but is asking a court to award damages, too. The full lawsuit after the jump. More

Maimon Strikes Again | Maimon Kirschenbaum, the lawyer that restaurant owners love to hate, has a new target: He's filed a class-action lawsuit against Le Cirque on behalf of cater-waiters. So if in the future you have to start tipping the guy who hands you a glass of champagne at a party, now you know who to thank! [Grub Street]

Richard Prince's appropriation art has long been popular with big-name collectors, but there's at least one person seeing red over Prince's most recent works, which went on display at Larry Gagosian's gallery last month and are featured in a new book by Rizzoli. Photographer Patrick Cariou filed a lawsuit against Prince, Gagosian, and Rizzoli last week for using a number of his photographs in Prince's "Canal Zone" exhibition without his consent, pics that Cariou alleges first appeared in his 2000 book, Yes Rasta. Prince, of course, has spent decades using other images in his works. What's different this time around? Cariou says that in the past Prince has typically relied on "anonymous commercial imagery." This time, though, he took advantage of Cariou's hard work since the photos in question were derived from the "ten years he spent in the secluded mountains of Jamaica, gaining access to, living and working with, and earning the trust of the Rastafarians who are the subjects of Yes Rasta." There's one party, though, who we imagine is very happy to have avoided any further legal trouble: disgraced author James Frey, who penned the text in Prince's book, but isn't named in the lawsuit. You can review the full suit for yourself below.More

It's been nearly two months since the town of East Hampton first began its crusade against Ron Baron, the investor accused of razing the 3,000-year-old dunes on his 40-acre beachfront property without obtaining the proper permits in advance. At the time, East Hampton threatened Baron with a $500-a-day fine until the problem was resolved and the "habitat was restored." Unfortunately, it turns out that $500 a day doesn't go very far when you're trying to scare a billionaire into submission.More

Betty Beauty Heads to Court | Who would have guessed there was so much demand for pubic hair dye? Nancy Jarecki's Betty Beauty, which produces "specially formulated color dyes for the hair down there," has filed suit against a competitor called Smart Beauty for copying its thong-shaped logo as well as "content" from its "instruction sheet." [NYP, previously]

Stephen Green's commercial real estate empire has been hard hit by the credit crisis—just yesterday, the company announced it planned to cut its fourth-quarter dividend—but the implosion of Lehman Brothers may end up putting an extra $21 million in the coffers of his company, SL Green. Last week, SL Green filed suit against Lehman's commercial banking arm for failing to provide his firm with a loan after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Doesn't compute? Allow us to explain. More

Alleged McCain Mistress Sues the Times | Vicki Iseman, the Washington lobbyist who was linked romantically to John McCain in a New York Times cover story back in February, is now suing the paper for $27 million. [Fox News]

It looks like Maimon Kirschenbaum didn't make any plans to take time off for Hanukkah. The lawyer famous for filing suit against just about every other restaurant in town for underpaying employees has picked the Japanese sushi chain Haru (which, in turn, is owned by Benihana Inc.) as his latest target. According to a complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court on behalf of former Haru waiter Jin-Yi Hong (as well as any other Haru employees who have yet to come forward, naturally), Kirschenbaum argues that the restaurant failed to pay its waiters minimum wage, withheld overtime pay, and forced them to share tips with managers. Haru is in fine company, of course: Kirschenbaum's previous targets have included Nobu, Jean Georges, Bouley, BondSt, Balthazar, BLT Steak, BLT Prime, and BLT Fish. The details of his latest legal offensive after the jump!More

A Hanukkah Gift for Edgar Jr. | Edgar Bronfman Jr. has had a lousy few years—would you want to be running a music company these days?—but at least he can rest easier knowing that ex-Simon & Schuster CEO Dick Snyder won't be a thorn in his side any longer. A court today dismissed Snyder's $100 million lawsuit against Bronfman for helping to "conceive" of the plan to buy Warner for $2.6 billion in 2003. [Reuters]

The Loews Corporation, the vast conglomerate controlled by the billionaire Tisch family, appears to be holding up pretty well amid the economic downturn. But that doesn't mean company chief James Tisch doesn't have other things to keep him up at night. Tisch and his wife Merryl have been slapped with a lawsuit by the couple's former butler and chauffeur, who alleges the couple failed to pay him the salary and benefits he was promised and denied him overtime pay as required by law. The ex-employee, a man named Miroslaw Drabik, claims he worked for the Tisches as a butler, chauffeur and caretaker of the couple's summer home from October 2007 through May 2008 and regularly put in 40 hours a week on the job. But in his suit in US District Court, Drabik alleges he never received the pay he was owed in accordance with state and federal labor laws. Drabik is now asking a court to award him an unspecified amount in back wages as well as punitive damages. After the jump, you can peruse the full suit by the Tisch's embittered ex-butler.More

It's been a rough week for real estate billionaire Sheldon Solow. On Monday, it came to light that Marc Dreier, the lawyer now accused of defrauding investors to the tune of $380 million, had been trying to sell fake Solow Realty promissory notes to investors. (It was Solow, in fact, who first tipped off the authorities back in October.) Now he has a new headache to contend with. Citibank filed suit against Solow this week, claiming Solow has thus far failed to pay back $67 million in loans and $18.5 million in letters of credit. The funds were part of a half-billion loan that Citi extended to Solow in 2004 to finance the development of a series of buildings along the East River waterfront. Unfortunately for Solow, construction on the project hasn't even started yet and it appears he's already running into financial difficulty. The nitty gritty from Citibank, N.A. v. Sheldon H. Solow after the jump.More

Scott Conant and Chris Cannon used to be partners in a pair of highly-rated Italian restaurants, Alto and L'Impero. The two decided to go their separate ways in early 2007 (Conant now oversees the meatpacking district restaurant Scarpetta), and while their split may have appeared amicable at first, things devolved over the summer when Conant directed some tough words at Cannon in the pages of New York Restaurant Insider and even suggested his former partner was incompetent. "Something tells us this won't be the last time hard words come out," New York's Grub Street surmised at the time. You can say that again. Last week Conant filed a suit against Cannon in New York Supreme Court, alleging that Cannon has failed to pay him $104,440.67 in deferred compensation. Cannon, for his part, is now countersuing, arguing that Conant violated the terms of his contract as well as defamed him in the New York Restaurant Insider interview, a violation, he says, of the "non-disparaging remarks" provision in the separation agreement they signed in 2007. After the jump, all the salacious details contained in the suit.More

No Tips From Tom? | Add Tom Colicchio to the long list of high-profile chefs who have been slapped with a lawsuit by a disgruntled ex-employee: A former Craftbar waitress filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against Colicchio and his company, Craft Worldwide Holdings, for allegedly misappropriating employee tips, failing to pay minimum wage, and withholding overtime pay. (She also claims Colicchio's company refused to pay to clean her work uniform.) The good news for Tom? We're guessing he'll have lots of useful advice to share with contestants when this trend eventually gets incorporated into an episode of Top Chef. [NYT]

Carla Says Non To Naked Bag | Has marriage to a vertically-challenged head of state robbed France's First Lady of her sense of humor? Carla Bruni Sarkozy—whose party trick used to be making her boobs dance individually—is now suing a French clothing chain for slapping her famous nude photo on their seasonal shopping bags. It could be worse: A few weeks ago Sarkozy tried (and failed) to ban the sale of a voodoo doll in his image, which has since turned into a big seller in Paris this holiday season. [Telegraph]

The problems are piling up for financier Steve Rattner. Two weeks ago, the media investor and Quadrangle Capital co-founder announced plans to shut down one of the firm's hedge funds; last week, it was revealed that Rattner's Alpha Media Group, which publishes Maxim and Blender, had fallen behind on payments to the company's creditors. Now the publishing company has been hit with a lawsuit by a hospitality company that claims Alpha Media failed live up to an agreement to promote a resort in the Dominican Republic bearing the Maxim name. The company, EMI Resorts, is now seeking more $80 million in damages. The full suit is below.More