The popular restaurant shut down on Aug. 24, days after a San Mateo County judge effectively halted a long series of delays that postponed a fraud ruling from an April civil court case.
“The restaurant is closed. That’s the decision we made because we couldn’t deal with the legal costs anymore,” said “Kitchen & Cocktails” owner Steven Gericke. “The restaurant will not re-open at this location.”
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Since the civil ruling, the Barbers have spoken of their desire to evict their former business partners and lease the spot to a new restaurant. But their goal was delayed after Gericke and Phillips filed for a number of legal protections, including bankruptcy. In addition, Gericke and Phillips had previously argued their restaurant had a 40-year lease on the property that precluded any attempt to evict them.
On Aug. 19, Judge Gerald Buchwald ordered a stop to any further postponements of the earlier civil court decision, saying there was evidence that Gericke and Phillips were only trying to avoid relinquishing their restaurant and paying the damages to the Barbers.
“I rarely talk like this in open court, but based on review of the file, I’ve got to tell you, I don’t like what I see here,” Buchwald said in court to the attorney representing Gericke and Phillips, according to court documents. “There was a judgment rendered and your people are trying to evade the effect of that judgment.”
Gericke says that they were not trying to deliberately delay the fraud ruling against them.
“There was no calculated effort on our part,” he said. “That’s the way our justice system works. We just protected ourselves as best we can.”
On Thursday, Sheriff’s deputies reportedly issued a writ of possession to Gericke and Phillips, which informed them that they had to vacate the building within five days.
Jamie Barber says she and her husband hope to recover as much money as they can from their former business partners.
“With a fraud judgment, you could go after them for the rest of their lives,” Barber said. “I don’t think we’ll be getting our money easily, but the main thing was to get them out.”
The two couples bought the Half Moon Bay Inn building in 2004 under a business agreement to split the inn’s $2.5 million price and renovate it. Before they entered into the business partnership, the two couples were good friends, regularly dining and spending time together. However, the close relationship soured abruptly after Gericke and Phillips failed to pay their half of the purchase price. From then on, the business partnership effectively severed and the building was eventually partitioned off and split between the upstairs inn run by the Barbers, and the ground-floor restaurant run by Gericke and Phillips. An acrimonious cold war began between the two couples, with both sides accusing the other of unpaid debts, personal abuse and business sabotage.
“It’s been very devastating. We put our whole life savings into this, and we come out walking away with nothing,” Gericke said. “I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think it’s justice. We’re hardworking people and we never defrauded anybody.”
Since April, the Barbers have been planning for the “It’s Italia” restaurant to move into the building after Gericke and Phillips vacate.
“It’s Italia” owner Betsy del Fierro says that her restaurant won’t open immediately, and instead it would likely be ready for business around December.
Barber says that moving in “It’s Italia” would require a large renovation project.
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