Kandi Burruss’ legal battle with her restaurant landlord turned ugly with the former Real Housewives of Atlanta star’s company rushing to court over alleged harassment, Us Weekly can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by Us, Burruss, 49, and her husband Todd Tucker’s company, Burruss Tucker Restaurant Group, asked for an emergency hearing as part of the lawsuit brought in March by Montego Pacific, the landlord for their restaurant Blaze Steakhouse.
In the new motion, Burruss’ companies said the landlord fired off a letter on June 13, outside of the legal battle, demanding $190,450 in rental payments and demanding they resume operations of the restaurant within five days.
Burruss’ company said the landlord made legal threats against the company if it did not comply with the demand, despite them being in pending litigation. A lawyer representing Burruss companies said the letter was issued for the “sole purpose of harassing and intimidating” Burruss’ companies and to “gain leverage” in the pending lawsuit.
Kandi Burruss Reveals Andy Cohen’s Reaction to Her Decision to Leave ‘RHOA’
“It is unethical and against public policy for a party and specifically counsel for a party engaged in litigation to threaten criminal proceedings or judicial proceedings for the sole purpose of attempting to gain leverage,” Burruss’ lawyer argued.
The judge denied Burruss’s companies’ emergency motion. A lawyer for Montego tells Us, “Montego Pacific believes that Defendants’ motion lacked merit, and we are glad that the Court agreed.”
In the lawsuit, Montego alleged that Burruss’ companies owed $154,000 in past due rent on the restaurant, which opened in 2020.
Montego accused Burruss’ companies of also “failing to keep the premises in good maintenance and repair, when necessitated landlord incurring costs for maintenance and repair that are tenant’s obligations under the lease.”
The landlord demanded an additional $56,000 for repairs. After the lawsuit was filed, Burruss slammed the landlord’s decision to name her as a defendant.
Kandi Burruss Hopes Kim Zolciak, Kroy Biermann ‘Figure It Out’ for the Kids
She said Montego added her in an effort to drum up media attention.
“It was just a disagreement between us and the landlord,” Burruss said. “But to let you know, they had to drop my name off so…I think they just put my name on there anyway so that they could get publicity for the lawsuit.”
“The rest is being worked out because it really was a disagreement about some repairs that they made and then who would be responsible for it,” Burruss claimed at the time.
Burruss explained, “So, we were just going back and forth about that, basically, and that’s why it turned out into what it turned into. But it looks like we’re gonna come to some agreement … so it’ll be fine.”
Around the same time, Montego filed documents to dismiss Burruss as an individual defendant.
Burruss’ companies denied all allegations of wrongdoing and filed counterclaims to the suit, which included allegations that the landlord refused to accept rental payments unless it paid 100 percent of all costs associated with the repairs of the premises.
In addition, Burruss’ company claimed the landlord had taken over the premises for repairs, which prohibited the restaurant from being able to operate business. The counterclaim demanded the landlord be ordered to comply with the terms of the lease and to not engage in willful acts of harassment.
Bravo’s Most Iconic 4th Wall Breaks Over the Years
The legal drama came several months after Burruss announced she would not be returning to Real Housewives of Atlanta in February 2024.
“I decided I’m not coming back this year,” she said in a statement to Variety. “It’s been 14 seasons and they allowed us to sit around for a little too long because they were making a decision … but during that time I had started working on a lot of other things and I got some nice, big projects coming soon.”
Porsha Williams returned for season 16 of RHOA, along with three newbies: Kelli Ferrell, Brit Eady and Angela Oakley. Shamea Morton was also promoted from guest to a full-time cast member.
