The fight between an Ontario city and a restaurant over the naming rights for a local sports and entertainment venue is escalating — with both parties filing competing lawsuits.
It was the end of May when the City of Mississauga abruptly announced it would rename the Paramount Fine Food Centre, claiming the restaurant, run by Mohamed Fakih, owed it $1.6 million.
Now both parties have filed separate legal claims.
On June 19, Fakih filed a statement of claim against Mayor Carolyn Parrish and the City of Mississauga seeking millions in damages for libel and defamation.
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“The City and the Mayor at all material times knew Mr. Fakih to be, acutely sensitive to the reputation and public image of the Paramount brand, particularly within the City of Mississauga, where the Facility bears the Paramount name,” part of his claim read.
It went on to claim that that sensitivity was “exploited.”
Three days after Fakih filed his defamation claim, the City of Mississauga fired off its own legal demand.
A statement of claim from Mississauga called for Fakih and his company to pay $9 million in damages for breach of contract over the naming of the city’s main sports arena.
The documents claim Paramount “fell into default” on its payments for the naming and concession rights at the stadium.
Adding it made “intermittent and inadequate payments” for the arena.
Fakih, in his own legal filings, said shareholder issues had held up payments, which he had always been committed to making.
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