Page 44 - BusinessWest September 4, 2023

COURT DOCKETS>>
The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.
HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Nakeah Norwood p/p/a Derek Russell v. Spring- field Gardens II LP
Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury and property damage: $86,824.97
Filed: 6/22/23
LM Insurance Corp. v. Petter Moore Trucking Inc. Allegation: Money owed for insurance premiums: $59,787.58
Filed: 6/28/23
Regina Leete as personal representative of the estate of Nikki Bisiniere v. JSAA Inc. d/b/a Coun- try Club Grille, City of Chicopee d/b/a Chicopee Country Club, Douglas P. Girouard, and Alyssa Sagan
West Springfield
Continued from page 13
complete.
Meanwhile, the city will soon commence work on
another major infrastructure project in its downtown area.
It includes construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Westfield and Elm Streets, an area that has seen renewed vibrancy with the opening in recent years of new restaurants and the redevelopment of the former United Bank building into a mixed-use facility called Town Commons. Also planned are improvements to the town common, with new side- walks, tree plantings, and more.
Beyond infrastructure, there are some new devel- opments within the business community as well, said the mayor, noting that the town’s first cannabis dis- pensaries — the community was a late entry in this sweepstakes — will be opening in the coming weeks, with one on Memorial Avenue near the bridge, and the other on Riverdale Street.
Meanwhile, the town continues to work with Amherst Brewing on redevelopment of the former Hofbrahaus restaurant just off Memorial Avenue — a project that has been paused with hopes that it can be restarted — and plans are being forwarded, by the same group that redeveloped the former United Bank building, to redevelop a long-closed nursing home off Westfield Street, with housing being the preferred option.
Fair Game
As he talked with BusinessWest about the upcom- ing Big E, the weather, and the overall goal of match- ing or exceeding last year’s numbers, Cassidy got up from his desk and retrieved his notes from previous fairs.
In deep detail, he has recorded not just the atten- dance for a given day, but the weather and other factors that might provide deeper insight into those
Allegation: Negligence causing wrongful death; gross negligence and malicious, willful, wanton, and reckless conduct causing wrongful death Filed: 6/30/23
Brandi Reed v. Rebecca Brushwood, DO; Trinity Health Of New England Corp. Inc.; Minerva Sur- gical Inc., and John Doe Corp.
Allegation: Product liability, medical malpractice: $530,847.79
Filed: 6/30/23
Giovannina Stellato and Peter Stellato v. Sun- Power Corp.
Allegation: Breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of express warranty, negligence: $85,000
Filed: 6/30/23
Susan Stenta v. J&J Agawam Realty Associates Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury: $737,000
Filed: 7/6/23
numbers.
Especially the weather.
Indeed, Cassidy goes much deeper than ‘rain,’
‘sun,’ or even ‘partly cloudy’ to describe a day. Much, much deeper.
“We missed the 17-day record last year by just a lit- tle bit, and the reason we missed it is because we had five days of rain,” he explained. “I often laugh, because people will say ‘oh, the weather was great year.’ Well, it was great on the day they came.”
Running back over his notes, Cassidy revealed the level of detail given to cataloguing, if that’s the right term, each day of the fair, so that the numbers can be fully understood and put in their proper context.
“That first Sunday was a threatening mix all day; Monday and Tuesday were heavy rain; Monday, there was sun at 5 p.m.; Tuesday, there was sun at 2 p.m., and it was very hot,” he said, reading from his notes. “The first Thursday, there was heavy rain with light- ning all day. And the second Monday was pleasant, but there was serious rain at 5:30, and the people ran out — although we had a very big day that day. We had a big day on the final Sunday, but it was cold and overcast.”
All this serves to show the importance of weather to the success of the fair, Cassidy said, adding that this isn’t lost on anyone at the fair, with everyone involved hoping that the seemingly constant rains that have swollen area rivers and damaged crops of all kinds will take a break in mid- to late September.
Beyond weather, Cassidy also likes to talk about what’s new at the fair, starting with entertainment, but also food.
Regarding the former, the 2023 fair will feature an eclectic mix of musical acts, including John Fogerty, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Parker McCollum, Jimmy Eat World, Quinn XCII, Chris Young, and many
more. As for the food, Cassidy teased that there is an intriguing new addition for the 2023 fair, but he
Kevin Edward Landers, individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated v. Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Allegation: Failure to pay wages: $75,000
Filed: 7/13/23
Brittany Civetti v. UniFirst Corp.
Allegation: Wrongful termination, intentional inflic- tion of emotional distress, discrimination
Filed: 7/17/23
Air Purchases of New Hampshire Inc. d/b/a API of NH/Delta T Distributors v. Capital Air Systems LLC and Timothy Mongan a/k/a Timothy Joseph Mongan a/k/a Timothy J. Mongan
Allegation: Money owed for goods sold and deliv- ered: $210,100.69
Filed: 7/18/23
Earl Twining v. Aspen Dental and Nazeeh Abunasra
Allegation: Medical malpractice: $39,000
Filed: 8/4/23
couldn’t announce what it was at the moment.
What he did say is that food has come a long way
— a long, long way — over the past few decades, with offerings that go well beyond traditional fair food and also beyond the ‘everything that can possibly be fried’ category as well.
“The food is so different today than it was 20 years ago, when it was more fair food,” he told Business- West. “There is a lot of high-quality food here, and
it has nothing to do with being fried. The food today is so much more creatively put together. You can get steak tips with real mashed potatoes and fresh veg- etables; no one thought you could buy that on a fair- grounds 20 years ago.
“When I first started in the fair industry, there were hamburgers and hot dogs and cotton candy and candied apples; there was a guy who made sausages,” he went on. “Today, the quality of food, the abundance of it, and the diversity of it are significantly different.”
Some of these eclectic offerings are available at a new area that made its debut in 2022 and will return this year. It’s called the Front Porch, and it promotes small businesses, many of them taking their first opportunity to showcase their brand, Cassidy said.
Last year, there were nine or 10 businesses par- ticipating, and this year, there will be seven or eight, to provide the ventures with more room to operate, he said, adding that some will be back from last year, while others will not, primarily because they’ve moved on to brick-and-mortar operations.
“It’s a fun way for people to get their feet on the ground,” he said, adding that the Front Porch has become an intriguing and popular addition to the landscape at the Big E — and one more reason for folks to show up in West Springfield ... and maybe break a few more records. BW
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44 SEPTEMBER 4, 2023
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