Grazie mille, your Honor.
A Manhattan judge has ended a family feud between the owners of the legendary Palm steakhouses by granting a late founder’s grandkids about $20 million.
Italian immigrants Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi opened La Parma restaurant at Second Avenue and 45th Street in Manhattan in 1926.
Because of a language barrier, it became The Palm and eventually grew to a mini-empire of 21 locations, serving Italian classics such as veal marsala and 36-ounce New York strip steaks sliced table-side.
Nearly a century later, John Ganzi’s grandkids — Garry Ganzi and his sister, Claire Breen — sued cousin Walter Ganzi Jr. and his partner, Bruce Bozzi Sr., Pio Bozzi’s grandson, for unpaid royalties.
The siblings control a 20 percent stake in the restaurant chain, while the partners own the remaining 80 percent.
Late Tuesday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley released a ruling finding that the partners cheated the siblings out of millions of dollars in royalties over 40 years by paying them an annual $6,000 licensing fee for each restaurant instead of a percentage of sales.
That fee amount “grossly favored” the partners by depriving the siblings the “fair market value” for The Palm’s intellectual property — including the iconic cartoons that cover the restaurants’ walls and were originally accepted in lieu of payment for meals by struggling artists, the judge said.
Justice Masley called the lowball payments “a textbook example of fiduciary misconduct” by the partners.
Her ruling means they must repay the restaurant business approximately $120 million, including $71 million in past royalties, $1.7 million in lost rent plus interest and legal fees, said the siblings’ attorney Fred Newman. His clients are due about $20 million of that award.
“The Palm is iconic, and the court found that the correct and proper way to license valuable intellectual property is to use the percentage of sales methodology,” said Newman.
“We are delighted to bring a long-awaited measure of justice to clients who were denied their rightful legacy for decades,” Newman said.
Ian Shapiro, who represents the partners, said his clients are “profoundly disappointed in the decision and intend to appeal.”
A source close to the partners disputed the $120 million figure based on how the interest is calculated.