The 141-year-old brick building in downtown Chattanooga that housed the Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurant collapsed March 29 because the building’s owner had let a concrete floor be poured upstairs in the Vaudeville Cafe, a separate business that closed in 2015, according to a lawsuit filed by the restaurant in response to an earlier claim against the business.
The countersuit claims the building owner’s son also unlawfully took Cheeburger Cheeburger’s restaurant equipment after the partially-collapsed building at 138 Market St. was condemned and off limits.
The new lawsuit filed in May in Hamilton County Circuit Court seeks $1.5 million in damages from the building’s owner, George W. Walls Jr.
But Walls’ $1 million lawsuit against Cheeburger Cheeburger filed earlier in March claims the brick wall’s collapse was the restaurant’s fault, citing a 1997 lease that says – in “plain language” and “no uncertain terms” – that maintaining the exterior walls was the tenant’s responsibility.
So, although the old, brick building has been demolished and hauled away – and previous tenant Chattanooga Ghost Tours has found a new home – the dust-up over who’s to blame hasn’t been settled.