Destino was once a Midtown New York restaurant owned in part by Justin Timberlake and known for being a hangout for local celebrities. But it closed in 2013, allegedly due to flooding problems.
A lawsuit filed Jan. 20 has now clarified the nature of that flooding: “It turns out some of the restaurant’s plumbing pipes were actually illegal, and wound up spewing — wait for it — human excrement all over the place,” the website PopCrush reported Tuesday.
One of the restaurant’s owners is suing insurance company Amguard, saying it is at fault for two separate incidents involving the pipes.
According to the online resource Eater New York, the first incident occurred in July of 2013, when the pipes burst and covered the walls and premises in waste. The restaurant closed for four months while the damage was repaired. But the lawsuit alleges that the insurance company rushed the restaurant to reopen before repairs were fully completed.
Thus in November of 2013, just a few days after the restaurant opened its doors again, a pipe affixed to the basement ceiling fell, this time covering a food storage area in sewage. This, in turn, led to a mold infestation and the restaurant’s permanent closure. Though, as PopCrush rhetorically asked in its coverage, “Even without the mold infestation, the human waste everywhere might have been reason enough to close things down, no?”
The insurance company, the lawsuit states, denied Destino’s claims for $275,000 associated with the damage and loss of business. According to the lawsuit, the pipes were the insurance company’s responsibility.
“If you don’t run sewage pipes properly, sewage backs up and this exact situation occurs,” says Jake Elvebo, Owner of Extreme Enterprises. “In order to avoid disasters like this occurring, it’s important to make sure things are properly engineered.”
Reporting on the issue, of course, has largely centered on puns playing off the name of Timberlake’s songs (even though he wasn’t an owner at the time the problems occurred). As PageSix.com wryly commented, “Cry me a river … of sewage.”