As many Jewish parents do to celebrate their son or daughter’s coming of age, Nancy and Marc Held had spent many months planning their daughter’s Bat Mitzvah celebration. They had spent thousands of dollars and time and energy, not to mention the hard work their daughter had undertaken to celebrate this rite of passage.
The Helds hired the Hotel Eventi in downtown Manhattan paying $37-thousand for the once-in-a-lifetime party. The hotel’s catering arm was paid to handle all catering duties. But when the time came to deliver, the Hands claim that the Eventi fell far short of fulfilling their end of the deal.
The Helds are suing the establishment claiming that they ruined the big day by not following through with what they had been hired to do. The lawsuit says that the hotel failed to offer all of the food and drinks that had been had paid for.
The suit also alleges that the entrees of steak or scallops were served cold, and when the guests complained, they were again served cold food. The lawsuit says that when all was said and done, the adults were left eating from the children’s ice cream bar to sate their hunger.
Marc Held said, “We were starving. We were hosting the party and didn’t have any food to eat.”
The suit also states that the original catering manager quit the company shortly before the Held party. The person who was supposed to stand in for them never showed up. The hotel also allegedly charged them for extras that were to have been included according to their contract with the Eventi Hotel.
Mr. Held says that the hotel offered them $1,000 and a free night’s stay in a suite after the disastrous evening, but that was not at all satisfactory. To make matters even worse, it was later discovered that the hotel was using photos of the Held’s event to promote their services.
The couple is suing for $811-thousand and copyright infringement. What do you think – do they have a case?
If you have legal questions, please consult our Online Legal Directory to find an attorney in your area.