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Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2009 > November > 10 > Entry
Sports bar remains shut down as settlement talks stall
The owners of two sports bars came tantalizingly close on Tuesday, Nov. 10 to settling their lawsuit that has led to the court-ordered closure of All Stars Sports & Wings in Kettering.
But settlement talks between All Stars owner Todd Hicks and Theodore Somerset — who purchased another sports bar, 8-Ball & Wings in Trotwood, from Hicks in April 2009 and later sued him — fizzled after more than two hours of back-and-forth negotiations in and around the chambers of Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara Gorman. Gorman then heard additional testimony that will help her decide whether she grants a preliminary injunction shutting down the Kettering sports bar as the lawsuit proceeds. Faced with a scheduled hearing on another case Tuesday afternoon, Gorman eventually recessed the hearing until Monday afternoon — but not before expressing some frustration that the morning’s settlement talks failed.
“The point of contention is a fairly minor one, and I hope both parties consider it,” Gorman said to both Hicks and Somerset. Later, as court was dismissed, Gorman urged attorneys for both sides to “keep working” on a settlement, “because I think it’s in the best interest of both of your clients to get this resolved.”
As it stands, however, All Stars remains closed under a temporary restraining order that Gorman issued Oct. 22.
All Stars Sports & Wings opened Sept. 13 in the 4139 Wilmington Pike building that housed a Grindstone Charley’s restaurant until early 2008. Before opening All Stars, Hicks signed a “non-compete” agreement as part of the sale of his 8-Ball & Wings sports bar at 4515 Salem Ave. to Somerset in which Hicks agreed he would not become involved with a competing sports bar within a radius of 20 miles of the Trotwood sports bar.
The lawsuit contends that All-Stars lies within 20 miles of 8-Ball & Wings, and that the Trotwood sports bar has suffered a loss of revenue from “the diversion of customers from plaintiff’s business to defendant’s business” and by confusion over the 8-Ball & Wings trademark.
Somerset testified Tuesday that Hicks’ actions have hindered his business plan to open as many as four sports bars in the Dayton and Cincinnati areas. Hicks testified last week that his new Kettering business is very different from his former one in Trotwood — more of a family restaurant rather than a bar.
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