Lisa Vanderpump and her husband, Ken Todd, were facing legal issues with their former landlord of the restaurant Pump. Vanderpump has a long line of restaurants, many of which have been featured on shows like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and, of course, Vanderpump Rules. In July 2023, the restaurant Pump closed allegedly due to issues with the landlord, who, since its closure, went on to try and claim that Vanderpump and Todd owed them upwards of a total of $1 million dollars. Now, Vanderpump and Todd have won by pushing back at their 8948 Santa Monica Blvd. partners.
According to documents found by InTouch, the claims from their former landlord were dropped (and Vanderpump herself was never named as a defendant in the case). The claims stated that the staff at Pump took light fixtures and things that were reportedly part of the landlord’s space, that Vanderpump and Todd’s PUMP LLC owed them rent, and that the liquor license for the building was supposed to carry over to the next owners, none of which happened when Vanderpump and Todd all vacated the Pump premises. The price tag for the suit was nearly $1 million dollars. It accused them of “breach of contract, promissory fraud and conversion.”
8949 argued the following: “Defendants’ and each of their failure and refusal to reassign, transfer and convey the Liquor License to 8948 will cause 8948 to suffer a loss of approximately $56,500 of base rent and other charges for each month that defendants fail and refuse to reassign, transfer and convey the Liquor License to 8948. In addition, 8948 will suffer a loss of the value of the Liquor License itself with a current estimated fair market value of $150,000.”
Lisa Vanderpump, Ken Todd, and PUMP LLC Don’t Have to Pay Up
Vanderpump and Todd pushed back, stating that their accountants were figuring out the rent situation but that every other claim was false, and explained what their side of the story was. According to PUMP LLC, the light fixtures belonged to Vanderpump and Todd and the liquor license was also theirs, not the building’s.
When talking with People, Todd explained all the claims that the landlord made. “We did not rip the chandeliers out like the landlord is claiming. We lovingly took the antiques out, which are now in our possession as they are also ours. You don’t normally find antique chandeliers hanging in a car park. The liquor license we have traded under for the last 10 years also belongs to us. We are happy to sell it to them at the fair market value.”
Todd also pushed back at the fact that in 2020, their rent was raised from $32,000 to $42,500 a month and that the landlord did not show them any kindness during the pandemic. “The landlord showed no forgiveness during the entire term of COVID, which is highly unusual,” Todd said. “As for the back rent of one-and-a-half months, the accountants on both sides agreed and signed off. The landlord needs to return our rent deposit, as the property is in much better shape now than when we found it. This aggressive behavior by the landlord will not be tolerated.”
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