The owner of historic Little Rock catfish restaurant Lassis Inn wants a judge to void the sale of the business to Kristian Nelson after learning about Nelson’s history of fraud.
Elihue Washington Jr., who has owned the restaurant at 518 E. 27th St. for 35 years, signed an agreement with Warhorse Ranch LLC, an entity owned by Nelson, on July 3. Under the deal, Washington would sell the assets of the restaurant; the restaurant’s beer, wine and liquor licenses; the right to trademark and franchise Lassis Inn; and the right to promote and market Lassis Inn for an “undisclosed amount.”
Nelson later wrote Washington a check for $2,500 — apparently drawn on Nelson’s used car company, I Sell 4 U Auto Sales — that bounced, the suit says.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Pulaski County Circuit Court, alleges that the 164-word agreement should not be considered a contract under Arkansas law and asks for a judgement declaring it invalid. Specifically, the lawsuit cites a 2016 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that says a contract requires mutual obligation.
“In this case, the purported contract is ambiguous, has no consideration, has no mutual agreement, and has no mutual obligations, among other legal defects,” the suit says.
Washington signed the agreement about 19 months after he closed Lassis Inn to undergo treatment for cancer. Afterward, Nelson and business partner Christopher Jones announced plans for “breathing life back into this Black historical Landmark” by renovating the property and expanding its menu.
At the time, Washington was pleased with the arrangement, according to an interview in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
But the “elderly” Washington, the lawsuit says, didn’t know that Nelson faces a $43.6 million judgment for defrauding a Little Rock octogenarian of millions of dollars. The scheme involved Nelson’s used car business and his restaurant, Hawgz Blues Café.
The suit says that Washington was also unaware that Nelson was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison for wire fraud in 2009 after taking about 20 investors for more than $1 million.
“Had Washington known Nelson’s background,” the suit says, “he would have never signed the purported contract.”
Nelson, in an interview with Arkansas Business, alleged that Washington isn’t the owner of Lassis Inn. He claimed that he had an appointment with the real owners on Wednesday. He declined to name them.
“They do not want to be in the middle of this,” Nelson said. “It’s like I don’t want to be in the middle of this. I’m just trying to work.”
Nelson also claimed that he had spoken to Washington on Wednesday morning.
“I feel like everything is going to be OK,” Nelson said.
Nelson said that when he wrote the check to Washington on July 6, there were enough funds in his account. The check bounced on July 10, Nelson said, because he had to pay a cleaning company and pay other bills in order to prepare the restaurant for an inspection.
He said the allegations against him hurt him. “But in the end, (Washington) didn’t lose anything,” Nelson said.
The suit seeks an injunction against Nelson on the grounds that the sale of Lassis Inn would cause losses to Washington and irreparable harm to Washington’s and the restaurant’s reputations.
Lassis Inn was founded around 1905 by Joe and Molassis Watson. It was a meeting site for Daisy L. Gatson Bates and other civil rights leaders in the years leading up to the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957.
Washington purchased the restaurant from the Watson family in 1989, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
The restaurant was among the first group of inductees into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2020, it received the American Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation.
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