QUOTED: Captain John on his last-gasp attempt to save his novelty restaurant
“I may be down, but I’m not out. I am not running away. What they are doing to me is not fair.”
—John Letnik, the owner of Captain John’s Seafood Restaurant, on why he won’t succumb to efforts to rid the Toronto shoreline of his now-defunct nautical restaurant. The rusting sea vessel was shut down by city officials last year after Letnik failed to pay mounting realty taxes and other fees, which currently total over $1 million. The Toronto Port Authority filed an application in early December to seize and sell the waterfront relic.
Letnik launched a $1.2 million counter-suit last week in a last-ditch attempt to save the less-than-seaworthy ship, parts of which are reportedly rotting and contaminated with asbestos. Letnik is claiming that the city unfairly stymied his efforts to offload the boat by refusing to grant a long-term lease along the city’s waterfront—a stumbling block to a potential deal last summer with an eccentric Slovenian multi-millionaire. While the month-to-month lease is certainly not ideal, we can think of a few other potential impediments to a sale: namely, the multiple sources confirming that the ship is more or less worthless, even as scrap. [Toronto Star]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/quoted-captain-john-lawsuit/&title=QUOTED: Captain John on his last-gasp attempt to save his novelty restaurant&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/capn-john-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_253562" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Image: George Socka)[/caption]
"I may be down, but I’m not out. I am not running away. What they are doing to me is not fair."
—John Letnik, the owner of Captain John’s Seafood Restaurant, on why he won’t succumb to efforts to rid the Toronto shoreline of his now-defunct nautical restaurant. The rusting sea vessel was shut down by city officials last year after Letnik failed to pay mounting realty taxes and other fees, which currently total over $1 million. The Toronto Port Authority filed an application in early December to seize and sell the waterfront relic.
Letnik launched a $1.2 million counter-suit last week in a last-ditch attempt to save the less-than-seaworthy ship, parts of which are reportedly rotting and contaminated with asbestos. Letnik is claiming that the city unfairly stymied his efforts to offload the boat by refusing to grant a long-term lease along the city’s waterfront—a stumbling block to a potential deal last summer with an eccentric Slovenian multi-millionaire. While the month-to-month lease is certainly not ideal, we can think of a few other potential impediments to a sale: namely, the multiple sources confirming that the ship is more or less worthless, even as scrap. [Toronto Star]){kind=link}
Sadly, I don’t think he has a leg to stand on. If you don’t pay your taxes, mortgage, or berthing fees, you lose your rights. If you agree to pay something and receive a benefit in return for it, you can’t expect those benefits to remain, especially untouched, if you aren’t making your payments.
Personally, I agree with John that it’s not right for the city or the province to be levying real estate taxes on something that is not actually real property. As far as I know, no tax to that effect would be levied on boat owners renting space in a marina… so why for Captain John’s?
It is for that reason alone, that I think his case has even a small amount of merit. The asbestos and other health concerns, however, pose a significant public health risk, and are sadly only hurting the Captain’s case – especially if one ever comes up with the mortgagee. That ship is (conceivably) the collateral in the loan; and if it is in poor shape, it could incur liability in the larger scale for him, beyond the issue of taxes and berthing fees.
Well said, Max.
Captain John’s is an eye sore and a pile of scrap that needs to get off of Toronto’s waterfront stat.
But for a boat owner renting space in a marina, wouldn’t the marina be paying property taxes or something?
That’s the marina’s problem. Not the tenant’s.