SKANEATELES - Morris's Grill is officially closed until further notice.
Officers from the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department arrived at the West Genesee Street bar in the Seitz Building at about 11 a.m. Wednesday and ordered all occupants to leave the premises before placing padlocks on the doors as part of an eviction procedure.
Officers also ordered the popular downtown village tavern to surrender its liquor license to the state Liquor Authority for the time being.
The closing was due to the enforcement of a warrant of eviction signed by Skaneateles Town Justice Kathleen Dell on Jan. 28. The business and the owners of the building where it is located have been engaged in a legal battle since a lease with previous building owners expired last fall.
Only days after that, local attorney Brian Shaw, who represents Morris's Grill Corp., filed for a preliminary injunction, which in effect prevented Seitz Building owners Emanon Equities from proceeding with the eviction.
But a judge recently denied the preliminary injunction, which gave Emanon Equities the legal right to evict Morris's. On Wednesday, that eviction was carried out.
Mary Jayne Lipe, who represents former Morris's owner Darryl “Burt” Lipe's estate, has added Syracuse attorney Paul J. Curtin to her legal team. Neither Lipe, Shaw nor Curtin were available for comment concerning the eviction.
Jerrold Gorelick, one of the Seitz Building owners, said Wednesday afternoon that though he knew the eviction would take place at some point, he was unaware it would occur Wednesday morning.
“The biggest thing I can say is that I regret that this is the way everything has happened,” he said, adding that he has expressed to Morris's his willingness to reach an amicable decision.
Before Burt Lipe's death Oct. 10, Gorelick said, Lipe and Gorelick had some open correspondence, but Shaw ordered him to “have no contact with Burt whatsoever, and for everything to go directly through him,” he said.
“So at that point my hands were sort of tied,” Gorelick said. “Since there was no longer a valid lease, we had no choice but to proceed with the eviction.”
Officers also ordered the popular downtown village tavern to surrender its liquor license to the state Liquor Authority for the time being.
The closing was due to the enforcement of a warrant of eviction signed by Skaneateles Town Justice Kathleen Dell on Jan. 28. The business and the owners of the building where it is located have been engaged in a legal battle since a lease with previous building owners expired last fall.
Only days after that, local attorney Brian Shaw, who represents Morris's Grill Corp., filed for a preliminary injunction, which in effect prevented Seitz Building owners Emanon Equities from proceeding with the eviction.
But a judge recently denied the preliminary injunction, which gave Emanon Equities the legal right to evict Morris's. On Wednesday, that eviction was carried out.
Mary Jayne Lipe, who represents former Morris's owner Darryl “Burt” Lipe's estate, has added Syracuse attorney Paul J. Curtin to her legal team. Neither Lipe, Shaw nor Curtin were available for comment concerning the eviction.
Jerrold Gorelick, one of the Seitz Building owners, said Wednesday afternoon that though he knew the eviction would take place at some point, he was unaware it would occur Wednesday morning.
“The biggest thing I can say is that I regret that this is the way everything has happened,” he said, adding that he has expressed to Morris's his willingness to reach an amicable decision.
Before Burt Lipe's death Oct. 10, Gorelick said, Lipe and Gorelick had some open correspondence, but Shaw ordered him to “have no contact with Burt whatsoever, and for everything to go directly through him,” he said.
“So at that point my hands were sort of tied,” Gorelick said. “Since there was no longer a valid lease, we had no choice but to proceed with the eviction.”
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