Fingers of blame point to owners of Red Oak Diner
By: Greg Forester
MONTGOMERY Plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against the Montgomery Planning Board and a developer have moved to withdraw from the suit, saying they were mislead by a representative of another area business and a lawyer.
Representatives of Alfonso’s, the Bagel Barn and Mrs. B’s Cleaners, all at Princeton North Shopping Center, said the manager at the Red Oak Diner, asked them to join the suit, even though his own business was never named as a plaintiff.
The plaintiffs said they were mislead because the Red Oak Diner was never even named as a plaintiff, despite asking the others to join and telling them an unknown benefactor would pay all the legal costs of the case. The diner is located on Route 206 in front of the Princeton North Shopping Center.
"The guy from the diner, he’s the one that started it all and brought us all in," said Maurizio Iovine, part-owner of Alfonso’s Pizza. "He brought us small businesses in as suckers for this lawsuit."
The manager on duty at the Red Oak Diner, identified as Harry O’Brien by another employee, denied any involvement of his business in the lawsuit.
Although several plaintiffs have moved to withdraw from the suit, the legal counsel for the developer, Madison-Marquette, is demanding stipulations to their withdrawal.
Madison-Marquette’s attorney, Tom Hall, said he wants a chance to depose the plaintiffs, and is moving to have the small businesses held financially responsible for the suit.
"We’re really interested in who’s behind this lawsuit," said Mr. Hall.
Now that the lawsuit could have repercussions for the small businesses, the owners said they were completely misled into joining the suit.
The business owners said they only signed on to be plaintiffs in the lawsuit after the representative from the Red Oak Diner brought the lawyer around to their businesses.
The two men said the new shopping center would bring increased traffic to the area and threaten their businesses, according to people working at the three businesses.
The attorney for the township, Bill Kearns, said he too is interested in who is actually behind the lawsuit.
"It’s really disturbing that someone is paying for this and they want to remain hidden," said Mr. Kearns.
Lawyers representing the township and the developer said they hope to find out exactly who the unknown entity is once the two sides actually meet in court in the next few months.

