Lawsuit attempts to stop hot LA eatery from opening at new Strip resort

Two Hollywood hospitality firms are fighting over the intellectual property rights for a popular Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, with one attempting to stop the other from expanding to a location in a new Strip resort.

Relevant Group, an L.A.-based hospitality company behind the historic Hollywood Citizen News building’s renovation and several hotel projects in the Hollywood area, sued Ten Five Hospitality and Dan Daley in Nevada District Court on July 18 to prevent Daley and his firm from opening a Mother Wolf restaurant in the Fontainebleau, a 67-story resort-casino expected to open in December, court records show.

Relevant Group alleges that Daley, the group’s former chief operating officer who helped launch the restaurant when it opened, and his Ten Five firm conspired to “steal corporate opportunities” through “sham” operating and food and beverage agreements established while Daley was still affiliated with Relevant Group, according to the court filings.

Daley and Ten Five, meanwhile, said that the agreements gave him the ability to expand through Ten Five, court records show. The legitimacy of the agreements are part of a separate lawsuit in a Los Angeles court. There, Ten Five sued Relevant Group and its affiliates for breach of contract and defamation, among other complaints, court records show. Relevant submitted a cross-complaint in that case similar to the complaint detailed in Nevada’s court.

“Mr. Daley’s claim of exclusive rights to use the intellectual property for food and beverage concepts, including Mother Wolf — developed by Relevant and its affiliates — is entirely baseless,” Grant King, Relevant Group’s managing partner, said in a statement. “We are confident that the court will prevent Ten Five Hospitality from unlawfully using the Mother Wolf IP at a new and unauthorized Las Vegas restaurant, which Ten Five Hospitality has no legal right to do.”

Mother Wolf, an upscale Italian concept led by Chef Evan Funke, opened in late 2021 to positive reception. The two firms worked together in conceptualizing and operating the restaurant until December 2022 when they cut ties. An Eater LA investigation in February detailed the in-fighting between the two hospitality groups.

Relevant Group thought their relationship had ended then, they said in the Nevada complaint, and only learned of Ten Five’s plans to open a Vegas restaurant because an upholstery company working on the Fontainebleau location contacted Mother Wolf L.A.’s general email address about a potential site visit to see the interior design style “as they want the same look,” according to the complaint.

Ten Five refused a cease-and-desist order sent shortly after the discovery, the complaint states.

Representatives for Fontainebleau Las Vegas did not provide a comment by press time.

A spokesperson for Ten Five said the lawsuit is not hindering the Vegas restaurant’s planned opening.

“While we are unable to comment on the specifics of ongoing legal proceedings, we remain entirely confident that there is no substance to Relevant’s case, and that their claims will have no impact on our plans to open Mother Wolf in Las Vegas,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Our investors, too, are fully behind our objective of opening the restaurant by the end of the year.”

A Relevant Group affiliate is in the planning stages to expand to new Mother Wolf locations, according to the Nevada complaint.

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.