North Park restaurant and bakery taking SDG&E to court

The owners of a North Park restaurant and bakery are taking San Diego Gas & Electric to court, claiming the power company turned what they say was a simple utility connection and upgrade into an ordeal that took more than three years to resolve.

Attorneys for Patisserie Melanie have filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court, seeking a jury trial in their complaint with SDG&E.

The eatery — owned by husband and wife Axel Schwarz and Melanie Dunn — accuses the utility of "grossly and recklessly negligent" work, with delays resulting in monetary damages of more than $3 million.

SDG&E spokesperson Anthony Wagner said in an email to the Union-Tribune that the utility has "been working with the customer on their claim since February of this year. While we have not yet been served with the lawsuit, it is SDG&E’s policy to not comment on pending litigation.”

Judge Richard S. Whitney has been assigned to the civil case but a trial date has not yet been set.

According to a seven-page complaint filed earlier this month, the trouble began after the restaurateurs leased a property at 3750 30th St., and learned the site needed a natural gas hookup and an electrical upgrade. In October 2019, Schwarz and Dunn contacted SDG&E but the work did not get completed until March 2023.

"It's been a nightmare," said Dunn, who also serves as pastry chef. "We had to continually draw from our savings, ask relatives for support in the project in order to continue to pay rent. We weren't open yet."

The lawsuit blames SDG&E for a "litany of gross errors, long periods of little to no communication or work, misinformation, and an unwillingness to communicate forthrightly" with the restaurant owners.

The petition claims the delays led to $3 million in associated expenses, including $1.1 million in debt obligations, nearly $820,000 in building expenses and almost $684,000 in lost revenue.

The lawsuit seeks compensation, including punitive damages and attorney's fees.

The efforts to open the restaurant coincided with the outbreak of COVID-19, but Schwarz said it's "hogwash" to blame the pandemic. "The work that we needed people to do did not require any social distancing," he said. "It was talking to people on the phone, looking at plans, writing things up ... and that in and of itself took two years. And even then they gave us the wrong information."

The SDG&E lawsuit is not the only lawsuit Patisserie Melanie's owners have filed.

Last October, Dunn and Schwarz submitted an 11-page petition against a local contractor they hired to help build the restaurant, accusing the company of "many months of delays, excuses, and substandard worksmanship" and costs that ran in excess of "several hundred thousand dollars."

The filing said the restaurant owners eventually hired another contractor to finish the job.

That case is also before the San Diego Superior Court.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .