In a last-ditch effort to save a Flatbush Avenue watering hole long enough to serve a few more rounds, a Prospect Heights bar-owner is adopting an unusual tactic, one involving, of all things, an article in The Brooklyn Paper.
Kevin Mooney, the owner of Mooney’s Pub, a 20-year-old Irish bar between Park and Sterling places, had been paying rent month-to-month for 15 of those years when, in October, he was served a notice of eviction from his landlord, Lina Fang.
Then, following the correct legal procedure, she sued Mooney for eviction.
But Jeffrey Saltiel, Mooney’s lawyer, said Fang erred when she then told The Brooklyn Paper that while Mooney’s had to leave, she was not, in fact, evicting that pub.
“We are not evicting anyone,” Fang was quoted in The Paper. “[Mooney’s is] leaving because they can’t afford the current rent.”
Saltiel said that single comment is the basis for Mooney’s case.
“I’m going to attack the eviction, saying that the notice is contradicted by the landlord’s statements to the press,” said Saltiel. “The notice has to be unequivocal. And this is clearly equivocal.”
Saltiel acknowledged that this was not the most traditional of attacks, but, “In some situations, it’s all you have.”
And according to Bob Dubno, a real estate attorney in Park Slope, what they have ain’t all that bad.
“The lawyer is being clever and is probably going to win on that,” said Dubno.
According to Dubno, once a landlord serves a tenant with a 30-day notice to evict, if the landlord does anything to contradict that legal document, like, say, collecting rent, or publicly contradicting herself to the press, then that 30-day notice is nullified.
But that doesn’t mean Mooney won’t be evicted. It just means he may be able to put it off for another 30 days.
Fang could not be reached for comment for this story. A man who answered the phone at her Flatbush Avenue liquor store said she was out of the country.
Mooney is counting on this slender hope.
“I’m trying to prolong it as long as I can,” said Mooney, who will be in court again on Monday. “And then I’ll have to kill it, I guess.
“Flatbush Avenue needs a Mooney’s pub.”
