Broken Spoon owner settles with Franklin for $75K

FRANKLIN — Miriam Kovacs, owner of the Broken Spoon, has reached a settlement with the City of Franklin and Franklin Police Department for $75,000.

Kovacs and her business were targeted by white supremacist groups in 2022, and she filed a lawsuit against the city and the police department saying there was an inadequate response to her complaints, and that she was discriminated against by the city and its leaders after criticizing their response. The settlement comes almost two years after the lawsuit was filed, in August 2023.

Kovacs said the outcome is not exactly what she set out to achieve. She wanted to create reform in the city and its police department, to prevent something like what happened to her from happening again.

“There was a goal to prompt change and not burden the taxpayer,” Kovacs said. “If anything, to create a better community for Franklin, and hopefully other cities and towns around the state.”

Cassandra Moran, one of Kovacs' attorneys with Rath, Young and Pignatelli, said the initial offer made on behalf of her client was around $7,000, putting an emphasis on reform.

“Ms. Kovacs cared more about the reforms, but the defendants did not want to implement or discuss them in our settlement,” Moran said.

Kovacs was disappointed by the result, but accepted the settlement after a conversation with her lawyers.

Attorney James Soucy, of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, representing the defendants, declined to comment on the case.

The settlement dismissed individually-named defendants from the lawsuit, with prejudice. This includes former Police Chief David Goldstein, Police Lt. Daniel Ball, former Mayor Jo Brown, former City Manager Judie Milner, and former City Councilors Jay Chandler, Valerie Blake, Vince Ribas and April Bunker. The settlement agreement also states the settlement is not an admission of fault of either the City of Franklin or the Franklin Police Department.

Kovacs said since the lawsuit was filed, she has struggled to maintain her business, a downtown eatery. The Broken Spoon closed its doors in December. She claims it has been hard to work with other businesses to stock her products.

“I think they may worry, but don't want to say this, how my brand being on their shelf could create a political environment, just by the name, just by Broken Spoon, just if anyone recognizes it,” she said. “And I have been so afraid to, like, to put that burden on people, and it's entirely asinine. I mean, my business didn't do anything to anyone.”

She hopes to bring the Broken Spoon back in the form of a catering company, but in the meantime is looking for a job to keep herself afloat.

Kovacs is still renting the space, and so plans to host events the first four Saturdays in August, as a final goodbye. Details have not yet been finalized.

“[It’s] a final meal for my customers and those who have always wanted to come. [An] opportunity to say goodbye to a space that was very special to a lot of people for so many reasons, reasons that go beyond a plate of food.”