Beacon Taqueria Lawsuit Dismissed

Also updated: pedestrian suit and Beacon foreclosure
A state judge has dismissed a Beacon business owner's lawsuit against his former landlord because of a technicality.
Milan Nigam, the owner of Tito Santana Taqueria, filed suit in June, seeking at least $400,000 in damages. He alleged that Lindley Todd LLC failed to make required repairs to the restaurant at 142 Main St. before the City of Beacon shut it down in May for code violations.
According to the lawsuit, Nigam "repeatedly" notified landlord Joe Donovan between 2022 — after Nigam bought the restaurant — and May 2025 of "sewage flooding the basement, rotten flooring and fire-panel faults." That month, the building department identified seven violations, including floor joists that, when viewed from the basement, showed "evidence of severe deterioration due to wood-boring insects." An engineer's evaluation and a building permit would be required before repairs, the department said.
In July, Lindley Todd LLC asked Judge Christi Acker to dismiss the lawsuit. The company said that six of the seven violations cited by the city were due to Nigam's "actions or inactions in violation of the lease."
Acker dismissed the suit on Jan. 28, ruling that Lindley Todd was not properly served with the summons and complaint. According to court documents, the papers were served by hand to Sean Noble, a Lindley Todd property manager, on July 7 at 134 Main St.
While Lindley Todd owns 134 Main and employs Noble, he is not a member of the LLC and was not authorized to act as a manager within the context of state law, Acker ruled.
Pedestrian death
Attorneys for the City of Beacon on Jan. 28 filed their opposition to a request for Acker to reconsider her dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the family of a resident who died after being struck in a Main Street crosswalk.
The family of Carla Giuffrida, who was hit in December 2021 at the intersection with Teller Avenue, filed a lawsuit in 2023 against the driver, Jacqueline Milohnic, and her husband (who owned the car), the city and Kearns Electric, the company that services Beacon's pedestrian signals. On Dec. 10, Acker dismissed the suit against the city and Kearns.
Giuffrida's adult children, Lindsay and Mauro, asked Acker to "renew" her decision, citing the city's installation of a leading pedestrian interval at the intersection as evidence that Beacon officials knew the roadway was dangerous. They also said city attorneys had not disclosed the installation of an LPI before Acker's ruling.
In materials submitted in January, Beacon's attorneys called the Giuffridas' request "a legal, factual, procedural and logical impossibility" since the family did not present any new facts challenging Acker's decision to grant summary judgment. Instead, the only "new fact" involves the use of the LPI, which city attorneys said Acker found to be irrelevant because its absence was not the primary cause of the accident.
If installation of an LPI four years after the accident proves responsibility, "no defendant would make any changes to a site after an accident if such measures would result in liability," the attorneys said. An expert who submitted testimony for the Giuffrida family failed to explain how installation of an LPI "would have prevented an accident in which a driver was blinded by sun glare and a pedestrian crossed with a red pedestrian signal," they argued.
Mews foreclosure
The Mews at Beacon, a partially constructed condominium complex at 53 Eliza St., will be auctioned on Feb. 13 at the Dutchess County Courthouse in Poughkeepsie.
A state judge granted Insula Capital Group's request for summary judgment in August and appointed an attorney to determine the amount due and whether the property could be sold. The attorney filed a report in October stating that the developer, Qele "Charlie" Qelaj, owes Insula $5.97 million plus costs and interest.