Lawsuits: Scott Conant Chris Cannon Divorce Gets Ugly

When Scott Conant left his partnership with Chris Cannon at Alto and L'Impero last year, few believed the split to be amicable. The official word was that there were "longstanding disagreements," but careful observers knew the divorce a long time coming.

By this summer, after Scotty had successfully opened up his Scarpetta on 14th Street, he was in the papers calling the group running his two former restaurants "incompetent." Half a year later, and over two years since Cannon and Conant decided on the split, the tensions have reached a fever pitch: the former partners are suing and countersuing one another. CityFile has the details and a copy of the official papers:

"Last week Conant filed a suit against Cannon in New York Supreme Court, alleging that Cannon has failed to pay him $104,440.67 in deferred compensation. Cannon, for his part, is now countersuing, arguing that Conant violated the terms of his contract as well as defamed him in the New York Restaurant Insider interview, a violation, he says, of the 'non-disparaging remarks' provision in the separation agreement they signed in 2007."

Pehaps that "provision" is why Conant was relatively tight-lipped during the initial split and why he publicly said he didn't know his disparaging remarks this summer would be reported "verbatim". Click through to Cityfile to see both filed suits.
· Catfight: Scott Conant and Chris Cannon Head to Court [CityFile]
· Conant-Cannon Cat Fight: More to the Story? [~E~]
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