Judge Supports Clothestime’s Lease Protection From Rivals

A Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction Thursday to Clothestime Inc. to prevent a competing store in a Costa Mesa shopping center from selling discount women’s clothes.

A Clothestime attorney said the case may be the first of a half-dozen in Southern California aimed at cracking down on retailers who violate clauses in Clothestime’s leases granting exclusive right to sell women’s off-price clothes.

The ruling by Judge Robert A. Knox temporarily bars Jae Joon Kim and Jai June Rhee from selling discount women’s clothes at a store scheduled to open soon at the Costa Mesa Courtyards, at Harbor and Newport boulevards.

The suit, filed April 4, alleges that Kim and Rhee are violating a clause in Clothestime’s lease, which gives Clothestime exclusive rights to sell discount women’s apparel at the shopping center, said Richard Grabowski, an Irvine attorney representing the Anaheim-based women’s clothing chain.

The suit also names a chain of Fashionland stores as a defendant, Grabowski said.

Fashionland has opened in other shopping centers in direct competition with Clothestime, he said.

Michael T. Sinkov, a Los Angeles lawyer representing Kim and Rhee, said his clients have invested $100,000 in the Costa Mesa store.

He said that their store would be named Expo Casuals, not Fashionland, and that Rhee is a part owner in other Fashionland stores but does not plan to manage the Expo Casuals shop.