Defense Firm Sues Miami, Fla., Caterer Over Yacht Party Gone Awry
Jul. 12–The nation’s wars have been such a boon to body-armor supplier DHB Industries that it planned a bash aboard a luxury yacht in Fort Lauderdale.
It never left the dock — and the party has ended up in court.
DHB claims glitzy Miami party planner Barton G. tried a “shakedown” by unexpectedly demanding the $91,345.90 event be moved from Tikki Beach, a barge that features tiki huts, a sand-swept dance floor, cabana beds and a Jacuzzi.
The new party spot: Casa Casuarina, the Ocean Drive mansion once owned by the late designer Gianni Versace — the move would have cost an extra $25,000, DHB says.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, DHB accuses Barton G. Catering of price gouging by inflating the rental price of the boat, then the cost of Casa Casuarina.
The party still went on — only arranged by a different company and thrown at the Star Island mansion of billionaire developer Thomas Kramer. That price tag: $207,000.
It’s a frivolous lawsuit, says Barton G. himself, whose real name is Barton Weiss.
The restaurateur says his company only suggested moving the party to Casa Casuarina, now a private club where Barton G. provides in-house catering.
“It didn’t have to be there. Tikki Beach wasn’t up to DHB’s standards,” Weiss said. “This was a better option. It was not canceled.”
Weiss says DHB nixed the deal 48 hours before the event so he returned the $45,000 deposit. DHB says Barton G. refused to throw the party unless it was at the Casa Casuarina.
The companies have partied together before.
In 2003, the events company says it arranged a last-minute employee appreciation event at Fifteen O One Barton G., a special-events complex, also in South Beach.
Barton G. is known for organizing dazzling parties for everybody from P. Diddy to the Miami City Ballet to the Super Bowl. His namesake restaurant opening featured two giraffes and a mascot named Sabrina the Chimp.
Weiss admits DHB is one of his company’s more prestigious clients.
New York-based DHB, which produces body armor for the military and law enforcement, boasts as its president a retired four-star U.S. Army general.
One of its subsidiaries, Point Blank Body Armor, runs plants in Oakland Park, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach — employing about 800 people in Broward County.
The company’s employees “made an extraordinary commitment over the past two years in an effort to suppply the United States Military with lifesaving body armor and protective apparel to the present conflicts in Iraq,” the suit says.
“It was a party to recognize the exceptional work effort and commitment made by the employees and plant managers of DHB Industries Inc.,” said Guy Spiegelman, an attorney representing DHB.
More recently, the company in May announced it received a $5.2 million contract to supply the U.S. Army with body suits for engineers who clear land mines. A month earlier, the company signed a three-year, $10 million contract to supply the U.S. Army with armored vests.
In May, the government issued a precautionary recall of 5,777 of those vests issued to U.S. Marines after a newspaper reported an investigation found they failed to stop pistol bullets. The company stood by its product.
DHB turned to Barton G. to organize its Dec. 10 party,which according to the invoice was for 50 guests.
Two days before the party, according to the suit, Barton G. demanded the party be moved to Casa Casuarina, which would have tacked on an extra $25,000.
The armor supplier also claims Barton G. overcharged the original price of the Tikki Beach by $33,000 — a claim Weiss says is wrong because DHB is not taking into account, among other costs, the price of renting limo buses to bring guests to the boat.
With guests flying in from as far away as New York, DHB rushed to organize a new party with another company at the Kramer mansion on swank Star Island.
“It was pulled together in 48 hours magnificently,” said Spiegelman, DHB’s attorney. “It was a first-rate affair.”
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