Lawsuit: New Jersey Man Scammed in Lauderhill Grocery Store Purchase

A New Jersey man's grocery store purchase turned sour shortly after he returned home from what he thought was a successful trek, according to a lawsuit claiming the man lost far more than the average grocery bill.

While Luis Miguel Reyes' complaint does include spoiled produce, the brunt of his lawsuit centers around the loss of a $200,000 down payment meant to purchase Lauderhill Supermarket LLC in late January. The lawsuit, filed in the 17th Judicial Court by Webb Millsaps Law Firm in late April, calls for a jury to award him $200,000, according to court records.

In early January, Reyes began looking for business opportunities in South Florida when he found a Lauderhill grocery store for sale on bizzbuysell.com. But the seller, who said the business earned about $1.2 million annually, appeared to lie about his stake in the company to sell off his wife's share and defraud the buyer, according to the lawsuit.

The sellers appeared to be in a rush from the start, Reyes asserts in the lawsuit.

They urged Reyes and his father not to linger on the property, pressing Reyes to put $5,000 down because other potential buyers were "eager to acquire the business," according to the complaint.

Reyes wired the money once he returned to New Jersey and then agreed to return to South Florida with $200,000 for a down payment.

He agreed to bring the $200,000 to South Florida and meet a representative of the seller at a Plantation Starbucks to deliver almost a quarter-million in cash,

The representative, however, "appeared nervous about accepting such a large amount of cash. (He) stated in the meeting in the Starbucks that he did not want to go forward to accept the down payment," the suit states.

Reyes and the sellers renegotiated a meeting at a Coral Gables realty office, where he finally handed over the down payment.

After the stop-and-start initial negotiations, the red flags became more apparent when Reyes and his family began a two-day trial run at the store.

Reyes noticed the store had far less foot traffic than expected for one that generates about $1.2 million in sales a year. His concerns were further compounded when he noticed "the vast majority of the inventory at the business was expired," he said.

On day two of the trial run, "plaintiff informed defendants that the business was not at all what was represented and, accordingly, the plaintiff if not want to proceed to acquire the business."

When Reyes returned the keys in late January, the seller said, "I used your money for something else, so I don't have it to give back right away," the suit reads.

Reyes called every day for weeks to check when he'd get his money back. But weeks turned into months, which turned into legal threats, and, in late April, a fraud lawsuit after the seller repeatedly gave excuses for being unable to pay, according to the lawsuit.

Once Reyes looked into the company a bit more, he found the seller actually owned a portion of the business, rather than being the sole owner like he claimed, according to the lawsuit. In the lawsuit, Reyes accused the defendant of trying to sell his wife's 30 percent of the company, rather than 100 percent of it, as he was told.

Reyes' attorney didn't respond to requests for comment.

As of May 1, the defendants don't have an attorney listed on file for the lawsuit and couldn't be reached for comment.