Family of Russell Graddy sues to stop new owners of Mr. G's diner from using the name

PATERSON — The family of the late Russell Graddy, a prominent civil rights, political and business figure in the city, has filed a federal lawsuit trying to stop the new owners of his diner from calling the business "Mr. G’s.”

The attorney representing the Graddy estate filed the complaint Friday, the same day Mayor Andre Sayegh and other political figures held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the diner during which they repeatedly talked about the deceased community leader and the role his restaurant played in the lives of Paterson residents.

The diner on 10th Avenue in Paterson’s 4th Ward reopened for regular business on Saturday, with two new sets of large red script letters proclaiming “Mr. G’s” on its roof.

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The Graddy family’s lawsuit said the new owners — who bought the building for $800,000 in 2023 — had acquired only the property and not the rights to use the name.

Lenise Graddy, the deceased man’s daughter, said in the legal complaint that the new owners disregarded her objections to calling the renovated restaurant "Mr. G’s" and were violating federal trademark law by doing so.

“Defendants have been shameless in their unlawful efforts to mislead the public into believing that defendants’ counterfeit diner is the same beloved diner business that was once operated by the Graddys,” the lawsuit said.

The complaint went on to say the new owners’ “deceptive business practices are intentionally targeting the consumer goodwill associated with plaintiff’s diner business so that defendants can exploit it for their own commercial gain.”

A lawyer representing the new owners, who call themselves Mr. Gs MYMY LLC, said they have not yet received an official copy of the complaint. But the lawyer, Kristen Achterhof, said her client “has done nothing wrong, and there is no merit to any of the plaintiff’s claims.”

In July, one of the new owners’ lawyers, Bret Danow, sent the Graddy estate’s attorney an email asserting that the deceased man’s family does not own an active trademark for “Mr. G’s.” That email was included among the documents filed with the lawsuit.

“Mr. Gs MYMY LLC is not using and will not be using the name, image or likeness of Mr. Graddy,” said Danow’s email. “Even if it were, your July 8th letter provides no explanation that the exclusive rights to use such name, image and likeness belong to your client. Further, the branding for our client’s restaurant was all newly created by our client so it is impossible that your client owns any rights to it.”

Graddy estate asked courts to impose injunction

As part of the lawsuit, the Graddy estate has asked the federal courts to intervene and impose an injunction to prevent the diner from using the "Mr. G’s" name while the litigation is pending. Court records say a federal judge will decide on the injunction request in mid-September.

Graddy — who was part of the group that hosted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during his Paterson visit in 1968, days before he was assassinated — had owned a series of restaurants in the city for more than 40 years. He opened Mr. G’s on 10th Avenue in 2007, and he remained in operation there until his death in December 2021. The lawsuit said his estate continued to run the business in 2022, before shutting down.

Details of the new business’s ownership remain somewhat murky.

Yaakoub Hijazi, who also owns Star Laundry, a few blocks away, bought the property in 2023, public records show. In interviews earlier this year, Hijazi identified himself as the business owner, saying he would invest $1.2 million to renovate the building and adding that he wanted to call the business “Mr. G’s” in tribute to Graddy.

Sayegh’s former business administrator, Vaughn McKoy, also has a stake in the operation. On his Facebook page last week, Sayegh thanked his McKoy and his wife, Marnie McKoy, a former Paterson school administrator, “for bringing back this community treasure.”

Sayegh’s social media postings have mentioned McKoy’s role in the reopening of the business, which has been particularly prominent in Paterson’s African American community over the years, without naming Hijazi. When someone asked Sayegh on social media whether Mr. G’s is Black-owned, the mayor said yes.

McKoy's role unclear

Neither Hijazi nor the McKoys have revealed details of their business partnership.

Hijazi did not attend Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. Among the political figures who spoke at the event were Sayegh, state Sen. Nellie Pou, Passaic County Democratic Party Chairman John Currie, City Council President Alex Mendez, 4th Ward Councilwoman Ruby Cotton, and William Pascrell III, the son of the hospitalized congressman. Paterson Councilwoman Lilisa Mimms gave the opening prayer.

Marnie McKoy served as emcee for the festivities, and her husband was repeatedly described in the ceremony as the central figure in the business. In emails earlier this year, Lenise Graddy called Vaughn McKoy “a shill front man ... to hide the true identity of the owners.”

McKoy in his speech on Friday acknowledged that Hijazi had already purchased the property when he became involved in the venture. But he repeatedly has refused to answer Paterson Press’ questions about his financial interest in the business.

The Graddy estate lawsuit talked about Sayegh’s role in promoting the reopening of the diner.

“Indeed, not only are defendants’ willfully continuing their infringing conduct over plaintiffs’ express objection, but they are going so far as to dupe the mayor’s office of Paterson, NJ into promoting the ‘re-opening’ via social media,” said the complaint.

“At least it can be presumed,” it continued, “given the late Mr. Graddy’s notoriety, standing, and esteem within the community combined with the fact that he built his diner into a ‘local landmark,’ the mayor of the third-most populous city in New Jersey would never willingly participate in the tarnishment of such a great man’s legacy, nor aid a local business in blatantly deceiving his constituents into believing that Mr. G’s legacy will continue by having his moniker unlawfully pirated by opportunists seeking to ‘re-open’ his eponymous diner as defendants’ counterfeit diner over the heartfelt and vigorous objections of Mr. Graddy’s family.”

Sayegh declined to comment when asked about the lawsuit’s reference to him.

At Friday’s ceremony, Sayegh said during his speech that he called Vaughn McKoy asking him to get involved in the Mr. G’s diner project. In McKoy’s speech, he said Sayegh’s then-economic development director, Michael Powell, contacted him about partnering with Hijazi.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Family of Russell Graddy sues to stop new owners of Mr. G's diner from using the name