Will Narsi be evicted this weekend?

<p>Narsi Samii has carved a lot of turkey in his 26 years at Coddingtown Mall, but in his legal battle to avoid eviction, Samii's goose looks cooked. </p><p>The owner of Narsi's Hof Brau appears to have exhausted all his legal options to avoid the ouster of his restaurant from the mall, and now faces the prospect of impending eviction. </p><p>On Sunday, Simon Property Group, the manager and co-owner of the ‘60s era mall, will gain the legal right to take possession of the 6,000-square-foot space that Samii's cafeteria-style restaurant has called home since 1983.</p><p>But Samii, broke from a two-year legal battle and unable to find a new attorney to continue the fight, is vowing to dig in to save the restaurant he called “his life.”</p><p>“I'm not going to shut the place down. They're going to have to do it. They're going to have to take me out of here on a stretcher,” Samii said. </p><p>Simon won't say exactly what its next move is, but the end-game seems near in the legal battle between a mom-and-pop operation and the nation's largest mall owner. </p><p>The struggle has become emblematic of the challenges Indianapolis-based Simon has faced in revitalizing the mall since buying a 50 percent stake from its developer, Codding Enterprises, in 2005. </p><p>Simon, which also owns the Santa Rosa Plaza, was supposed to bring the kind of management expertise and clout with national retailers that could attract the kind of tenants needed to revitalize the aging center. </p><p>But along the way Simon alienated many of the local retailers and, as the economy weakened, major retailers became hesitant to expand, or in the case of Gottschalks department store, shut down entirely. That left the mall with numerous retail vacancies and sharp declines in foot traffic. </p><p>Mara Shepard, owner of a new jewelry store across the hall from Narsi's, hopes the two sides can reach a resolution. The restaurant brings in significant numbers of diners to the mall, she said. </p><p>“I don't want to see an empty space over there,” Shepard said. </p><p>Simon moved to cancel Samii's lease in 2007, claiming he violated terms that required him to generate a certain amount of revenue per square foot. Samii countered that Simon was using a technicality to oust him out of the remaining seven years of his lease to make way for a restaurant like Cheesecake Factory.</p><p>The mall officials said they wanted Narsi's to remain in the mall, but needed to move him to allow renovations to proceed. </p><p>At one point, Samii agreed to move to a smaller space in the mall, but the deal never was consummated. Simon claimed it offered more than $100,000 to help Samii move, but Samii countered that it wasn't enough and the proposed lease offered him little protection. </p><p>Samii failed over the summer to convince a Sonoma County Superior Court judge to block his removal. He appealed, but last month the judge in the case, Dean Beaupre, ruled against Samii again and granted Simon Property Group the right to take possession of the property Dec. 27. </p><p>Samii has tried to figure out what that means, but so far hasn't. </p><p>“All they said was ‘We're going to go by the court's ruling,'” Samii said recently from a dining room bustling with Christmas shoppers. </p><p>An e-mail Samii received Dec. 18 from Simon attorney William Goines suggests the mall owner has tired of tangling with Samii and wants him out. </p><p>“At this point my direction is to enforce the judgment and pursue possession of the leased premises according to the terms of Judge Beaupre's judgment,” Goines wrote. </p><p>Mall manager Laura Kozup said the mall is “adhering to the judge's ruling.” She referred additional questions to Simon officials in Indianapolis, who could not be reached for comment. </p><p>The uncertainty has put Samii in a bind. Unsure what the mall's next move will be, he can't make even basic business decisions like how much food to order and how to schedule employees.</p><p>“Should I close down? Should I buy meat tomorrow? Should I buy produce? I don't know what to do,” he said. </p><p>So in classic Samii fashion, he's vowing to fight on while hoping the publicity over his plight shames his landlords into backing off or returning to the bargaining table. </p><p>“I hope to God they don't come in here with the sheriff and lock the door because if they do, the whole nation will know about it,” Samii said. </p><p>By that and the “going out on a stretcher” remark, he doesn't mean he'll do anything violent or illegal, Samii said. He just means that he will continue trying to expose what he says is unfair treatment at the hands of a powerful, unfeeling corporation. </p><p>Legally speaking, Samii is out of options, said Santa Rosa attorney Wallace Francis, who handles evictions but is not involved in the dispute. </p><p>“The train is coming down the track and he's tied to it,” Wallace said. </p><p>Since there's a final judgment, all that remains for Simon to do is request the Sheriff's Department to physically evict Samii from the property. Typically, the landlord would give the owner a period of time to remove their property, after which deputies would show up and remove anyone remaining on the premises. </p><p>Personal property left in the space could be sold by an auctioneer hired by the landlord, who could keep the proceeds to pay off outstanding debts, like rent, Wallace said. </p><p>Samii says he's current on his rent. But because he lost his case, he could be held liable for Simon's legal fees, according to the ruling. </p><p>In addition, Narsi has been sued by two of his former attorneys, and has yet to pay another who represented him at trial, which resulted in a $114,000 legal bill he can't pay. Moving to another location is equally unlikely given his financial predicament, he said. </p><p>“I don't have any cash,” he said. “If they close this place, I'll probably go bankrupt.”</p><p>Despite all the rancor, Samii said he hopes the mall will negotiate a deal that will allow him to stay in the mall he loves.</p><p>“This is not good for me. This is not good for you. This is not good for Santa Rosa,” Samii said.</p>