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Letter to the editor

Talk of the bay: Bar territory battle slinks into court

By Times staff
Published August 25, 2007

The Green Iguanas are duking it out in Hillsborough County Circuit Court. Ybor Iguana Inc., which owns the Ybor and Veterans Expressway watering holes, has sued Richard Calderoni and Green Iguana Entertainment Inc., owner of the Westshore and St. Petersburg locations. The complaint? Ybor says it has an exclusive license to expand in Hillsborough County under the "Green Iguana" name and wants an injunction to stop Calderoni from allowing someone else to open a competing bar and grill under the name. If that's not complicated enough, Calderoni is a shareholder in Ybor Iguana, so he's effectively suing himself. He said he was not aware of the lawsuit or of any plans for a company to open a Green Iguana location.

The true spirit of customer relations
Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza wins the customer service faux pas of the week. Responding to a customer's compensation request over a delayed flight, he e-mailed a subordinate "we owe him nothing" and "he's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny." Baldanza then hit the "reply to all" button on his BlackBerry. His e-mail went to several Spirit employees and the customer in Orlando. Because the flight to Atlanta was delayed by weather, Spirit doesn't owe passengers anything, a spokeswoman said. The customer, Christy Boswell, says Spirit announced the plane was late to Orlando due to a mechanical problem. It arrived in Atlanta nearly three hours late, causing Boswell and her husband to miss a concert. They asked Spirit to pay for their air fare, concert tickets, hotel room and parking - a total of $376.84.

[Last modified August 24, 2007, 22:57:17]