DERBY – A lawsuit between investors who won approvals to build about 203 townhouse units in the city’s downtown redevelopment zone appears to be heading toward trial later this year.
James and Steven Lepore teamed with husband and wife Christopher Barretta and Jena G. Bonazzoli-Barretta to gain approvals from Derby in February 2020 to build at 23 Factory St.
Derby also granted a tax break and permission to use city land for parking.
Five years later, the project has yet to start.
Instead, the business relationship broke down with the Lepores filing a lawsuit against the Barrettas in April 2023.
The deal, according to the Lepore brothers’ court filing, was that they and the Barrettas were to form a new limited liability company – Downtown Derby LLC – to develop and ultimately sell 23 Factory St., with each of the four partners having a 25 percent interest.
However, the property remained under the control of Barretta Property Management, whose agents allegedly “refused to transfer (the property) in order to allow for the sale of the approved project,” according to the lawsuit.
In court documents filed in response, the Barrettas denied the Lepore brothers’ accusations and disputed the business deal. They said the Lepore brothers were supposed to buy the property from them. The Barrettas own 23 Factory St. and operate Barretta Gardens & Landscaping there.
The Barrettas also said the Lepore brothers’ lawsuit mentions aspects of a deal that was never put in writing.
Five filings were made in the pending lawsuit in February and March. The filings show the case is heading toward trial, with a possible start date of October.
The Lepore brothers’ lawyer, Edward Gasser, filed a disclosure showing they would ask a real estate expert to testify on their behalf. That real estate expert, of Cushman & Wakefield, will testify that development rights to 23 Factory St. added $5.2 million to the property’s value.
On March 3, Gasser filed a motion asking for more time to complete discovery on the case. A judge granted his motion, setting the new discovery deadline as Oct. 15, 2025.
A scheduling order was also filed in the case on March 3.
The document says that the parties have tried to resolve the dispute, but have not been successful. The document schedules deadlines for pre-trial depositions and states that a verdict in the case will likely be more than $50,000.
The document also sets a date of September 2025 for a pretrial conference, with a potential trial start date between Oct. 15 and Oct. 17.