Bistritzky Bros. Win Lawsuit

Watertown Daily Times

CANTON — A state Supreme Court judge issued a temporary injunction preventing the city of Ogdensburg from shutting off water and sewer service to a kosher food plant.

Tubroburg LLC, owned by Menachem and Schneur Bistritzky, claims in an $11 million lawsuit filed last week that the city has charged it unfairly for water and sewer services at the plant and hasn’t turned over paperwork needed to finalize purchase of the property.

Judge David R. Demarest will hear arguments Friday and possibly decide whether to extend the order. The judge signed the temporary injunction Friday.

Watertown attorney David P. Antonucci, representing Tubroburg, said Tuesday that the city had planned to cut water and sewer service Monday to the Main Street plant.

Menachem Bistritzky said last week that inaccurate measurements used in determining daily water and sewer use have driven up the bill. He also said the plant was being billed at a higher rate than other commercial businesses for city services.

Last week, the city threatened to foreclose on the kosher cheese plant if delinquent bills totaling nearly $160,000 — $154,000 in utilities and $6,600 in rent — aren’t paid. The company has about 50 employees.

Tubroburg began operating the plant, which makes “cholov yisroel”-grade kosher cheese and milk, in May 2009 after the city agreed to sell the plant for a $125,000 down payment, $12,000 monthly rent for 13 months and a closing payment of up to $900,000.

The contract called for the company to purchase the plant by June 1, but the city hasn’t provided abstracts to the business to finalize the sale, the suit alleged.

While the company put its down payment in an escrow account, it subsequently missed deadlines that would have allowed its monthly rent payments to be put toward the $900,000 closing payment, city officials said last week.