The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian creditors abandoned by Jamie Dingman’s failed Nassau restaurant empire this week urged a New York federal court to grant a $1.113 million default judgment in their favour, after no defence was filed against their claim.

Documents filed in the southern New York district court, which have been obtained by Tribune Business, disclose that Mr Dingman, son of world-famous entrepreneur and Lyford Cay resident, Michael, has missed the February 16 deadline to file a defence by more than one month.

Filings on behalf of well-known Bahamian companies, such as Wulff Road-based Tile King and FYP (Fix Your Place), argue: “Default should be entered because defendants have failed to respond to the complaint on or before February 16, 2016.”

The documents, lodged with the southern New York court on Wednesday, confirmed that the action had been served on Vicki Inskeep-Brown, an assistant to Mr Dingman, at his “place of business” on January 26, 2016.

Erica Wolff, a US attorney representing the Bahamian creditors and others, alleged in an affidavit: “Defendants were therefore required to answer or otherwise respond to the amended complaint on or before February 16, 2016 - within 21 days of being served.

“To date, none of the defendants have answered or otherwise responded to the complaint or amended complaint. Thus defendants have defaulted, and been in default, since February 16, 2016.”

Apart from Mr Dingman personally, the defendants represent his failed Nassau restaurant ventures - The Traveller’s Restaurant, 25 North Ltd, Island Smoke House Ltd, Out West Hospitality and Bahamex Ltd.

Even if the Bahamian companies and individuals obtain their sought-after default judgment, they will then face the task of enforcing it against Mr Dingman and obtaining due payment.

Their original lawsuit, filed early in the New Year, claimed that Mr Dingman has effectively abandoned them and “fled the Bahamas altogether”, refusing to pay what he owes to creditors and investors.

It alleges that he had stopped communicating with them, and is “hiding out in his girlfriend’s apartment in downtown New York City” in a bid to escape both his Bahamian creditors and ex-employees, plus foreign associates he either hired to assist him or induced to invest in the Nassau-based restaurants.

Mr Dingman’s efforts to build a Nassau-based restaurant and hospitality business included taking over the iconic Traveller’s Restaurant in western New Providence via a lease arrangement.

That venture failed and the property shut again, until members of the Bain family, its owners, re-opened it again this summer.

He also leased two units in the Klonaris brothers’ Elizabeth on Bay plaza on Bay Street for two other restaurant formats, both of which have also closed.

Tribune Business also revealed how Mr Dingman leased the Beach Club Cafe from Sandyport’s developers, viewing this as his “signature property”. The venture never opened, and the lease was pulled.

The lawsuit alleges that FYP and Tile King are owed more than $8,000 for building materials and supplies delivered to Mr Dingman’s businesses, but which were never paid for.

Other Bahamian businesses suing Mr Dingman via this lawsuit include the People First (Bahamas) employment agency, which claims to be owed more than $160,000.

Then there is Young Digerati (YNG), a small Bahamian-owned business, which lost more than $3,000 on a promotional event it wanted to hold at Mr Dingman’s Island Smoke House because the venue had been left “uninhabitable”.

“When YNG Group confronted Dingman about the situation, he dismissed their concerns, asking: ‘What are you gonna do? Sue me?’,” the lawsuit alleged.

IDNet, another Bahamian plaintiff to the lawsuit, allegedly provided $10,057 worth of information technology services and products to Traveller’s Rest, the Island Smoke House and 25 North, for which they were never paid.

The individual Bahamians suing Mr Dingman include Jason Rolle, his former general manager, who claims to be owed $46,113 in unpaid salary and benefits, plus Tyrone Adderley, a contractor due more than $2,000 for work on the Beach Club Cafe at Sandyport.

The lawsuit also discloses that among those induced to invest in Dingman’s failed businesses was Atlantis public relations chief and radio host, Ed Fields.

He was alleged to have invested $25,000 in the Traveller’s Restaurant business, in return for an equity stake in Out West Hospitality, the holding company for Mr Dingman’s Nassau restaurant ventures. Mr Fields, though, is not named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The action suggests that Mr Dingman expanded too far, too fast, and Out West Hospitality’s financial position steadily worsened to the point where it became unsustainable, leading to the eventual collapse.

The ‘abandoned’ Bahamian creditors/investors alleged that Mr Dingman used his family name and connections to launch his planned Nassau empire, with the lawsuit making every effort to connect him to his family heritage.

The lawsuit alleged: “Dingman repeatedly lied to vendors and employees in the Bahamas. Dingman falsely promised payments for past-due and future invoices in order to induce vendors and employees to continue to provide Out West Hospitality and its purported subsidiaries with services and supplies.

“By fall 2013, Dingman and Out West Hospitality had defaulted on their payroll, vendor and rent obligations. Employees quit, service providers stopped performing and landlords terminated leases. By August 2014, not a single one of Out West Hospitality’s restaurants, hotels and other businesses was operational.”