Black Angus owner sues couple over cancelled wedding reception (Statesville: credit card, restaurants)

[SunnyKayak]

The suit, filed in Iredell County Civil Court, claims that the Lorchs paid a $500 deposit for a wedding reception to be held on Dec. 31, 2011, and were told that the deposit was non-refundable.
The Lorches cancelled the reservation in September, according to the suit. The restaurant charged the couple’s credit card and they contested the charges. Their credit card issuer refused payment.
In the suit, Angela Matthews and the Black Angus Grille allege that they turned down other requests for New Year’s Eve functions and lost some $2,000 in business for that date

Black Angus owner sues couple over cancelled wedding reception | Statesville Record & Landmark

[jskirwin]

This is the kind of thing that must drive judges nuts.

So the Lorches cancel their plans 4 (or more) months before New Years Eve. I can understand why Matthews and Black Angus would be upset; some restaurants are booked a year in advance for that night, but to most reasonable people 4 months is plenty of time to find alternative bookings. Matthews and Black Angus should have refunded the $500 and moved on.

But it turns out they didn't have to; the credit card did it for them through the chargeback. At this point the Lorches get their $500 returned to them by the credit card company. They get married 6 weeks before they originally wanted to. So at this point the Lorches are "whole." No harm has been done to them.

So why did they go and do this?

Pressly said Matthews and the Black Angus did not want to file a lawsuit, but the Lorches used the Internet to slander his client and her business.

Just can't let past transgression go can we? Good luck on married life...

Thanks to smartphones and applications like Yelp, restaurants and other small business have to pay close attention to their reputations, even though most people going to Black Angus are more interested in the quality of the food than they are holiday party policies. But most people are also lazy, which means that they will look at the stars and pass judgment rather than read the reviews first.

I'm not sure what the judge should do since slapping both sides upside their heads is probably illegal.