Cup Foods And Other Businesses Again Suing Minneapolis, Jacob Frey

Cup Foods And Other Businesses Again Suing Minneapolis, Jacob Frey

One of the changes to this lawsuit compared to the original filing is the significant increase in the businesses' requests for relief, from $1.3 million to $30 million.

Business owners in George Floyd Square are once again suing the City of Minneapolis and Mayor Jacob Frey for the loss of income after the death of Floyd, this time seeking $30 million.

Cup Foods, a family-owned business, and its additional enterprises, including rental apartments and a tobacco shop inside the grocer, initially filed a lawsuit against the city in November 2023.

While two cases within the suit were dismissed with prejudice, which means they cannot be reintroduced, one was denied without. So a writ of mandamus, ordering the city government to provide a ruling, was filed in Hennepin County last week.

The owners claim that after Floyd’s murder at the hands of then Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, they lost business as tenants abandoned their properties, concrete barriers were placed around the intersection, and police held off on responding to calls in that area, causing it to become a "hub for violent crime."

Floyd visited Cup Foods on May 25, 2020, and an employee called the police after he allegedly attempted to use a counterfeit $20 bill.

When Minneapolis Police officers arrived at the scene, former Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s for over nine minutes during the arrest just outside Cup Foods, killing him.

After his death, a memorial was constructed outside Cup Foods, but the writ says the owners were never consulted about it.

Concrete barriers were erected at George Floyd Square at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in June 2020, acting as a “no-go zone,” and removed a year later.

“The barricades physically deterred tenants and customers from visiting Petitioners’ properties,” the writ says.

While the barricades were made to keep people out of George Floyd Square, the writ claims violent crimes increased during that time because Minneapolis police withdrew from the area.

According to court documents, overall crime rose 16% in Ward 8, where the owner’s properties and George Floyd Square are located, from May 26, 2020, through November 30, 2020, and violent crimes rose to 112%.

The businesses' attorney, Michael Healey, further told Bring Me The News that any attempts his clients made to call 911 to report a crime went unheard.

"Police were essentially told not to enter the intersection. Several of my clients called 911 repeatedly in the years following Floyd's death and were just ignored," Healey said. "There has been a sense of frustration and anger over the four years since Floyd's death. They have felt a sense of abandonment."

One of the lawsuit's requests is that the Minneapolis police reinstate police protection at George Floyd Square and provide the residents and business owners in that area with the same protections offered in other parts of the city.

The businesses are requesting that the city immediately begin condemning their properties so that they can acquire them and pay just compensation for them.

Healey says since Floyd's murder, the property value has diminished significantly, with tenants abandoning apartments and their other businesses operating out of Cup Foods losing significant income.

One of the changes to this lawsuit compared to the original filing is the significant increase in the businesses' requests for relief, from $1.3 million to $30 million.

"The original complaint goes back two and a half to three years, so there have been extraordinary damages suffered by both Cup Foods and other business owners at that intersection," Healey said. "Cup Foods have continued to suffer over this four-and-a-half-year period since George Floyd's death, and their losses have increased dramatically."

While Mayor Frey could not comment because the suit is in active litigation, a City official provided Bring Me The News with a statement, saying they are actively working with the community to redesign and improve the area. This includes reconstructing the streets, incorporating memorials, and expanding response services.

While Healey says the proposed changes to the area sound hopeful, they do not change the economic hardships Cup Foods and its additional businesses have endured.

“They waited four and a half years to present plan to making things better. People wanted action from the police and from the mayor in that first year after Floyd's death,” Healey said. “I hope that something great happens at the intersection, but that wouldn’t prevent my client's businesses from being destroyed.”

SOURCE: Bring Me The News