Woodbury Jewish Center is moving forward with their efforts to evict Morrell Caterers from their property
"It's not a complete win [for Morrell]…In fact, we're evicting him," said Woodbury Jewish Center's attorney Scott Mollen.
As of Monday, the temple said it will follow through with a summary proceeding that would attempt to evict Morrell from the premises, according to Mollen.
"It clears the way for Woodbury Jewish Center to move forward to recover possession of catering facilities and ultimately sever ties with Morrell," said Mollen.
Despite the possible eviction, Morrell's attorneys expect the summary proceeding to be dismissed.
"We have [the summary] proceeding and we expect to prevail there too," according to Morrell's attorney Ron Rosenberg, who said he is confident that his client's contract will be upheld and that he will "continue operating out of Woodbury Jewish Center until 2029."
The legal issues in the kosher scandal are cloudy.
In Friday's decision, Judge Vito M. DeStefano ruled that the contract, extending through June of 2029 between Woodbury Jewish Center and Morrell Caterers However, according to the temple's lawyers, this decision now presents a clear path toward evicting Morrell.
Morrell Caterers is at the center of a dispute that rocked the Jewish community in February when . Rabbis from surrounding synagogues as news broke that Morrell was accused of violating Jewish kosher laws that govern the preparation of food.
Among the accusations was that employees prepared kosher and non-kosher foods in the same vicinity.
http://patch.com/A-sRH0
One should not be dissuaded by the fact that orthodox rabbis have been reported in the press as having come forth advocating a compromise. The Va’ad, the supervising agency [hashgacha], is one of them. They would not publicly abandon a Va’ad of such stature, HOWEVER, see how many of them would now eat at an affair catered by Morrell at the Woodbury JC or, if they would deign to eat there, how many would do so BEFORE everything was re-kashered under strict supervision. These are the same rabbis who, when a Conservative hashgacha was involved in a dispute, did not hesitate to state that once there is a question raised as to a place’s reliability in matters of kashrut they could not, in good conscience, recommend that place as reliably kosher; there are enough places with pristine reputations.