UPDATE: Judge Rules in Favor of Heavenly Scent in Train Station Coffee Clash

UPDATE: It appears that the judge has ruled in favor of Heavenly Scent owner Joyce Reynolds in the dispute over coffee service at the Maplewood train station. 

“The judge has made a ruling," Art Christensen, who has been in a long-running dispute with Reynolds, said in a message. "We disagree. We will be making an appeal."

Christensen has the contract from New Jersey Transit to provide concierge services at the station. He sublets the services to others, including Heavenly Scent, who he has been trying to evict, claiming the owner refuses to provide better service.

But Reynolds went to court to block the eviction proceedings.

The chancery court matter is set for a hearing on September 2. Christensen said he cannot comment on the chancery court matter (the injunction) since that is an active legal matter.

The following story on the dispute was filed earlier today:

After eight court dates and one deposition of Maplewood Mayor Vic De Luca, the fate of the Heavenly Scent coffee and breakfast food concession at the Maplewood train station is still up in the air, according to both sides in the conflict.

The clash began last September when Art Christensen, chairman of the Maplewood Concierge Company, which leases and manages all the leasable spaces in the station, asked Heavenly Scent owner Joyce Reynolds to move her business across the station and start operating other concierge services such as dry cleaning drop-off and pick-up.

When Reynolds declined, preferring to continue in the space she has occupied for a decade, Christensen started eviction proceedings. This past spring, Christensen allowed another vendor to offer coffee at another counter in the station. Reynolds then obtained a restraining order against that business, claiming that its operation violated the non-compete clause in her lease that states that Heavenly Scent is to be the sole coffee vendor between 5 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. at the station.

Ms. Reynolds’ attorney Diane O’Connell says that testimony in the landlord/tenant trial was completed last Monday, July 20, and that Judge Fast of Superior Court Special Civil division was reviewing the testimony. The judgment, which was expected on Monday, will determine whether or not Reynolds has a lease at the station through December 31, 2012. According to Christensen, the fate of the restraining order/injunction against the other coffee business would be decided in a separate court dependent on the decision regarding the lease.

On Monday, Mayor Vic De Luca was called as a witness by Reynolds’ attorney. De Luca appeared at trial because Christensen had testified that he reached out to the Mayor in an effort to communicate with Reynolds and resolve the lease situation. To counter De Luca’s testimony as witness for the opposition, Christensen says he had De Luca deposed at Town Hall prior to his court testimony.

Neither side of the argument is clear on when the judge will rule on the matter. In that uncertainty, though, they were able to find some small common ground. When asked by Patch when the ruling would come, both Christensen and O’Connell answered with the same two-word phrase.

“No clue.”