10 operators sue Columbia U., professor over letters

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 11, 2002 by Paul Frumkin

NEW YORK -- When Frank Valenza received a letter from a customer last August, he was stunned. The letter claimed that the guest had become ill soon after he and his wife had celebrated their first wedding anniversary at Valenza's Restaurant 222.

"The evening became soured when the symptoms began to appear about four hours after eating," the letter said. "Extended nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps all pointed to one thing: food poisoning." The letter was signed by Frank Flynn, purportedly a Gap stores manager trainee.

Valenza recalled that "his blood started to boil. I couldn't believe some idiot here had served something that could have made someone so sick. I wanted to ill the chef and everybody involve . I wanted to blame somebody."

It wasn't long before Valenza found somebody to lame: the letter writer himself.

Flynn -- in actuality a 29-year-old assistant professor at Columbia University's School of Business -- had mailed similar letters to about 240 New York restaurants, also claiming to have contracted food poisoning while dining at their establishments. In some of the letters he claimed to be a Gap employee, while in others he provided his real identity. All letters ended with the nebulous assertion that while it was not his intention to file any reports with the Better Business Bureau or Department of Health, he wanted the restaurateur "to understand what I went through in anticipation that you will respond accordingly."

Flynn's reason for writing, as he later admitted, was to help collect data for a research study he had developed to determine how restaurateurs responded to complaints. And while both he and the dean of the School of Business apologized in writing to all 240 restaurants soon afterward, calling it a "horrible mistake" and "an egregious error in judgment," 10 of the operators insist that's not enough. They recently filed a $100 million class-action lawsuit against Flynn and the school, claiming libel and emotional distress.

According to Thomas Moore, the attorney for the Manhattan restaurateurs, participants in the lawsuit -- in addition to Restaurant 222 -- are Chez Josephine, Box Tree, Caffe Bondi, Herban Kitchen, Jezebel, Canaletto, March, Isla and La Belle Vie.

Moore also said he has received phone calls from other operators who wanted to join the lawsuit. "I'm sure there will be more before this is over," he added.

Virgil Renzulli, a Columbia University spokesman, declined to comment on the suit, saying: "It's Columbia's policy not to discuss publicly any issue that has gone to litigation. We will make our case in court."

Flynn did not return phone calls.

In the meantime, Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the Greater New York chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association, said he sent out an alert to all members, informing them of the lawsuit and including Moore's phone number for any who might be interested in participating.

"Personally, I think [Flynn] should have known better," Hunt said. "I think he missed a few days in class -- the section on ethics. Or if he was there, he certainly wasn't paying attention. Think of the havoc a letter like that can cause."

Several of the restaurateurs who received the letters agreed, saying they were dismayed at first. "My first reaction was that my stomach started to hurt," said Nick Livanos, who, with his family, owns Molyvos, Oceana and three other restaurants in the New York area. "The last thing you want to receive is a letter like that."

However, Livanos continued, while his first reaction was that the letter was genuine, he soon began to doubt its validity. The letter was undated, contained no phone number and made no reference to what Flynn had eaten, he explained. "Anyone would ... tell you what they ate."

Then, when Paul McLaughlin, managing partner at Oceana, revealed that executive chef Rick Moonen had received a similar letter, Livanos was convinced. "It was clearly a scam," he said.

Richard Hollocou, general manager of Gotham Bar & Grill, said he was "pretty shocked" when he received the letter from Flynn. He said he tried to investigate it, discussing it with his chefs and purveyors, reviewing his reservation and menu records, and examining his food supplies. He even called Starbucks' sales still hot; gift cards jolt coffee chain' salles Flynn and left a voice mail, but Flynn was away on vacation at the time.

Livanos pointed out that neither Molyvos nor Oceana would be participating in the suit. "I was shocked when I heard that some of my colleagues were suing," he said. "I think the lawsuit is so frivolous. I would expect people in our industry just wouldn't bother."

Valenza, for his part, argues that the suit is warranted. "He put me through a lot of sleepless nights," he said. "If was heart-wrenching.... I thought this could put me out of business."

Wayne Nish, who co-owns arch with March with

Joseph Scalice, also said tie lawsuit is necessary. "[The letter] threw my partner into a tizzy for days, and the office manager went nuts," Nish said. "It's a very serious issue. These are Third-Reich tactics. It's like they said, 'We're going to torture them and see how they respond.'"