Business & Tech
JCPenney Files Lawsuit, Wants to Stop Construction of Dick's Sporting Goods
The lawsuit alleges that the mall broke a lease agreement by allowing Dick's to put up a construction fence that obstructs parking and access to JCPenney.
A Great Lakes Mall tenant wants Dick's Sporting Goods to cease construction of its new store and remove fencing.
J.C. Penney Corp. filed a lawsuit in Lake County Common Pleas Court Thursday alleging that Simon Property Group, the mall's landlord, broke its lease agreement with JCPenney by allowing Dick's to put up a construction fence adjacent to its store.
The 508-page lawsuit, first reported on by The News-Herald, argues that the lease prohibits construction outside of a designated permissible building area and fences or other structures that obstruct JCPenney's parking areas or access to the store. The company says Dick's put up the fence without JCPenney's consent.
The fence has taken away more than 250 parking spots and has caused a 25-percent drop in sales at JCPenny, according to the suit filed by Cleveland attorneys Yelena Boxer and Andrew Fontanarosa.
"This construction is particularly problematic because it comes at the start of the most critical shopping period of the store, beginning with back-to-school sales and continuing through the holiday season," Boxer wrote in the suit.
JCPenney seeks $25,000 in damages.
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