NJ Wedding Venue Countersues Couple Who Claims It Stole $20K From Them

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A Morris County wedding venue is countersuing a couple who accused it of stealing $20,000 from them.

The Meadow Wood, in Randolph, is countersuing a Florida couple, Shammi Patel and Jankee Dani, months after they initially filed suit, claiming that the venue has not returned their deposit after the wedding was cancelled during COVID.

In April 2020, Shammi Patel and Jankee Dani entered a contract with The Meadow Wood venue in Randolph to host a wedding with 300 guests and a reception with 375. The couple says they put down a $20,000 deposit with plans to wed in October.

Due to the COVID lockdown, the venue could not host the October wedding, the couple claims.

Related: NJ Wedding Venue Stole Couple’s Deposit After COVID Cancellation, Suit Says

The initial suit adds that the couple did not incur any food-related costs with the venue, as they had outside caterers planned, nor any venue-related costs, as the wedding was cancelled more than 45 days before it was set to take place.

Patel and Dani cited fraud and breach of contract, and are seeking a $20,000 refund, punitive damages for failure to refund the deposit, attorney’s fees, costs of suit, and other relief “the court deems just and equitable.”

The Meadow Wood, however, claims that it was in fact the couple who breached the contract, adding that the contract states “deposits are not refundable for any reason.”

Furthermore, the countersuit says that the couple never made any payments to The Meadow Wood, but a $20,000 non-refundable deposit was credited to the defendants to have towards an event.

It also claims dozens of the couple’s accusations are false, denying “any wrongful act whatsoever,” and that “damages suffered by the Plaintiffs were the result of their own actions, or inactions.”

“The agreement states, ‘if you violate or cancel this contract at any time, you forfeit any and all deposits as liquidated damages. The Meadow Wood has the right to seek any additional losses or claims it may have for any cancellation of this contract,’” the countersuit reads.

As a result, the venue itself is now seeking $20,000 from the couple, plus interest, as well as attorney’s fees and other court-related costs.