Two popular nail salons in Pacific Palisades are the focus of a recent lawsuit filed by one salon owner against the other.
Owners of Bellagio Nails & Spa, Vince and Kim Nguyen, claim in a lawsuit filed in early September that their former employee, Tran Thu Hong (aka Ruby Tran) and her associate, Hoai Mua Nguyen, used confidential proprietary information to open a competing nail salon, Ruby Nail and Spa.
Bellagio currently occupies a suite at 970 Monument St. above the former Blockbuster video location while Ruby Nail and Spa operates out of Bellagio’s former location at 15228 Sunset Blvd., which is the site disputed in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Hong and her business associate, Hoai Nguyen, of intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage, unfair business practices, breach of loyalty and breach of fiduciary duty, according to court documents.
The complaint further alleges that Hong, encouraged by her business associate, used confidential information about the Bellagio owners’ efforts to open another nail salon nearby in order to take over the Sunset location.
The leak of information led to the plaintiff’s landlord Elliot Zorensky’s refusal to extend the property lease without the inclusion of a non-compete provision, according to the lawsuit.
Vince and Kim Nguyen’s lawsuit claims that during negotiations with Zorensky, a clause was added to the lease preventing them from operating another nail salon within a two-mile radius of their Sunset location. According to the complaint, this rendered them unable to sign an extension with Zorensky because they had already entered into a contract for an additional space on Monument Street.
The complaint alleges the clause appeared after communications occurred between Hong and Zorensky, a claim both deny.
Zorensky, who is not named as a party to the lawsuit, told the Palisadian-Post that he never spoke to Hong about Vince Nguyen’s efforts to lease another space for Bellagio.
“He missed his option to renew the lease,” Zorensky said.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
The Bellagio owner had regrets and offered a lot of money for the space but it was too late, Zorensky said.
Court documents show that the former Bellagio owners felt betrayed by their former employee for opening her business in their previous Sunset location.
Vince Nguyen’s attorney Allen Felahy said that he believes Zorensky’s wife, Deborah Nonberg, is a partner in the nail business with Hong.
“Our client has information from former employees that Hong said ‘she was going into business with Mrs. Zorensky,’” Felahy said, adding that when more information comes to light Zorensky and his wife could be named as parties in the lawsuit.
The Bellagio owner’s intent was to expand to an additional space, Felahy said.
“My clients are not in the business of throwing money down the toilet,” he said, adding that their intention was to have two salons in the Palisades.
In an email attached to the lawsuit, Vince writes to Zorensky:
“She have no right to steal my business after we spend 14 years to work so hard to build with our tears, sweat and blood.”
Hong’s attorneys argue that she did not violate any fiduciary duty, loyalty of interference or unfair economic advantage laws under State employment regulations.
Hong was never a partner, officer, manager or anything other than a nail technician, and therefore owed no fiduciary duty to the plaintiff, her attorneys stated.
In one of many email exchanges, Vince Nguyen asks Zorensky to deny Hong’s lease, claiming that Hong is stealing his business and customers while also stating that the move from the Sunset location was a mistake on his part:
“I wanted to continue doing business with you but felt that we wanted to expand to a bigger space as we always wanted, so when the opportunity presented itself, and we took it. Thus, we signed the lease upstairs. I realized that we have miscalculated and made a poor and stupid judgment.
“Ruby is someone I helped from the very beginning. She just came to U.S. for six months fresh out from beauty school, she had no skills, no knowledge of anything, and I helped her acquire all her skills and knowledge of this business. What she’s doing is betraying and stealing, she’s not someone to be trusted.”
Irwin Feinberg, an attorney representing Hong, said, “The function of the lawsuit is to force Ruby (aka Hong) out of the Palisades and out of the position of being a competitor.”
Feinberg contented that the allegations made by the plaintiff will prove to be false in court.
“This is Goliath trying to keep David from competing,” Feinberg said.
Attached to the lawsuit is also an email response by Zorensky to Bellagio’s owners stating that he was prepared to work with them.
“I was ready to have you sign the next day. I did the lease amendment very quickly even though I had six excellent applicants for your space. Only after you read the radius clause of the amendment, then you remembered to mention to me that you had already signed a lease across the street upstairs. It looks to us that you want the location as an afterthought to keep competition by others out of the market. It is not because of your blood sweat and tears. We will not be extending your lease when it expires.”
Separate motions, including one asking for attorneys’ fees will be heard on Nov. 26.
The court denied an anti-SLAPP motion filed by the defendant to dismiss the case on Sept. 11.
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