National retailer Lord & Taylor has stepped up its legal rhetoric over the planned redevelopment of the White Flint Mall in Montgomery County, accusing the mall’s owners of trying to “bull rush” through a lawsuit over the future of the project.
Lord & Taylor sued the mall’s owners, principals of Lerner Enterprises LLC and The Tower Cos. in July, claiming they breached a decades-old contract by letting leases expire and knocking down the former Bloomingdale’s store.
The presiding judge rejected Lord & Taylor’s request for an injunction, which would have blocked the redevelopment from going forward while the lawsuit plays out. Lord & Taylor has appealed that ruling.
The latest salvo in the case came last Friday when Lord & Taylor filed a memo as part of its appeal. In it, Lord & Taylor said the mall’s owners won’t honor its “word or obligations and instead wants to bull rush through this litigation so that Lord & Taylor cannot ‘un-ring’ the bell and stop it from continuing to intentionally breach the parties restrictive covenants.”
In plain English, the retailer is saying that it could still lose even if it wins the case because the mall will be rubble by the time a decision is made. White Flint Mall claims Lord & Taylor’s damages can be compensated monetarily and that an injunction would be an overreach in the suit.
