Misfit Garage Sues Truck Finished

Misfit Garage Sues Truck Finished

Updated at 8:50 p.m. Friday: Revised to include statement from Richard Rawlings' attorney.

The popular Dallas restaurant and music venue Gas Monkey Bar N' Grill is suing its founder, Richard Rawlings, for defamation and "deliberate and deceitful attempts" to get out of his contract, according to a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which is seeking $6 million in damages, was filed Thursday on behalf of the bar and its managing member, Daniel Flaherty, against Rawlings, the production company for his Discovery Channel reality car show Fast N' Loud, and Gas Monkey Holdings.

Rawlings' lawyer said in a statement that the claim does not have merit.

"Gas Monkey Bar has been in breach of our license agreement since Day 1, we've tried to resolve these issues for the past five years, we terminated the relationship when it became clear they were unwilling and incapable of fulfilling their contractual obligations, and it's obvious that this is nothing more than a fabricated claim as a last-ditch effort to try to get back the license," said Austin Champion, the attorney representing Rawlings.

The production company Pilgrim Films and Television, and the attorneys representing the northwest Dallas bar and Flaherty could not be reached for comment.

Richard Rawlings opened The Gas Monkey Bar n' Grill off Technology Boulevard in northwest Dallas in 2013. (Alexandra Olivia)

Problems with Rawlings began before the bar near his Gas Monkey Garage even opened for business five years ago, the lawsuit says.

During its construction, bar employee Tim Hinkhouse wrote in a May 2013 email, "Richard has been extremely disruptive ... His treatment of the construction workers was beyond unacceptable ... His behavior is that of a spoiled 13 year old," according to the lawsuit.

After several instances of Rawlings interrupting and halting construction, the lawsuit says, Flaherty banned him from the construction site so the job could be completed.

Since the bar and music venue's opening in September 2013, "Rawlings has consistently tried to insert himself into their operations and usurp control" from Flaherty, according to the suit.

The lawsuit also alleges Rawlings has been slanderous about the bar and made "baseless accusations" that Flaherty, who lives in Coppell, was stealing from him.

In 2015, Rawlings wrote an email to Flaherty about incomplete or missing financial records, the suit says. Flaherty responded by telling Rawlings he was welcome to sit down and look at the records himself, but Rawlings said he didn't think the records existed.

Richard Rawlings at his Gas Monkey Garage in Dallas.

The suit says that Rawlings made defamatory statements about Flaherty and the bar to other people and that Flaherty confronted Rawlings about it in an email he sent July 21, 2016, that said: "You were slamming me about being dishonest and stealing from you ... As I have told you for the last 2 years you are welcome to audit the books at any time."

Rawlings sent a reply that said, "My mistake for mixing drinking and emotions. Sorry for that," according to the suit.

When a third-party buyer was about to finalize a deal to obtain the rights to Gas Monkey Bar N' Grill and Gas Monkey Live in 2017, the lawsuit says Rawlings accused Flaherty and the bar of dishonesty and stealing his money, which caused the agreement to fall through.

This transpired after Rawlings tried to buy the rights to the bar and music venue himself in 2016 but was unable to because of insufficient funds, the suit says.

The lawsuit also alleges Rawlings and Pilgrim Films and Television are considering opening their own Gas Monkey-themed entertainment venue in Connecticut and are "misappropriating" the bar's restaurant concept in doing so.

Misfit Garage Sues Truck Finished

Source: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2018/06/15/gas-monkey-bar-files-6m-defamation-suit-against-founder-and-tv-star-richard-rawlings/