Key West’s cosmetic shop controversy has moved from the court of public opinion to Judge Tim Koenig’s courtroom.
Orogold shop co-owner Nir Chen filed suit last week against 15 members of the Key West Rip-Off Rapid Response Team, the consumer watchdog group that has been picketing the shop since May 2018.
The lawsuit names as defendants the rip-off team’s founders Bruce Mitchell and Tevis Wernicoff, as well as 13 other members, including 92-year-old protester Shirlee Ezmirly, who was served with the lawsuit while picketing March 3 in front of OroGold.
The group enlists volunteers to hold signs and picket the shop at 518 Duval St., claiming the shop’s owners and employees overcharge customers, use aggressive sales tactics and repeatedly violate city code by refusing to offer refunds, among other things.
The lawsuit claims the shop owners Nir Chen and Zohar Alon have been the victims of slander, libel and defamation. It states that Chen “purchased his share of Orogold in August 2017 under the terms of a three-year lease agreement,” and that “Orogold has been open to the public since October 2017.” Chen’s affidavit says he has been a full-time resident of Key West since February 2019.
The suit seeks monetary relief for lost revenue and asks Judge Koenig to issue an injunction stopping the protests.
“Whereas during season (and without protesters) I would estimate my store to occupy around 30 potential and actual customers an hour,” Chen says in a sworn affidavit attached to the lawsuit, “during these same months when the group is picketing and harassing, my store usually only sees one or two customers an hour. This loss is reflected in the alarming plummet of gross income at Orogold. Total gross income in the calendar year 2018 totaled $1.2 million at Orogold, as compared to $806,081.27 in 2019. Despite no noticeable changes to the business, either internally or externally, gross income was down $439,846.46.”
Mitchell and Wernicoff said they will vigorously defend themselves and their rights to protest.
“We’ve hired the Horan law firm to defend us in this matter,” Mitchell told the Key West Weekly on March 4.
In the meantime, he has said the group intends to continue picketing the shop and is still enlisting volunteers.
“As a result of these unceasing false accusations and continuous aggressive interference with Orogold, workers have left the store, and I have been forced to work longer hours on top of an already demanding schedule,” Chen’s affidavit states. “The protesters’ actions continue to take a drastic toll on (Orogold’s) economic well-being and public image. This interference creates a hostile environment in the general area, including on the Duval Street sidewalk in front of my store, perhaps the main consumer thoroughfare in the city. The group’s behavior and actions are offensive and plainly inappropriate for the space they have chosen.”