David's Rock

Here is a feel-good story that has the little guy coming out on top, although it cost him the proverbial arm and a leg to do it.

My wife and I had breakfast at a local IHOP restaurant a couple of weeks ago. As we were leaving after our meal, I noticed a pretty good size rock alongside the sidewalk with a sign behind it. The sign identified the boulder as “David’s Rock” and a story was written below the title with a date of November 1, 2006.

The words struck a chord, since there had to be a good story behind them. Here is the sign.



And here is “David’s Rock” with the sign behind it, just as we saw it that day.



After seeing that, I just knew that I had to get the story behind it. I went to the restaurant last week with my camera to snap the pictures above. Then I went into the restaurant to inquire as to the background on it. The man I spoke with was very accommodating and used his cell phone to call Mr. Bill Downie, the man named on the sign. He handed me the phone, and I was captivated for the next ten minutes.

Mr. Downie related that the case of IHOP –versus—Kroger went all the way to the Supreme Court, (not the big one, but the local Columbia County Supreme Court) not once, but twice. It seems that the main tenant, Kroger, controlled the shopping center where the IHOP was to be built.

The owner of the shopping center had given the grocery store-the main tenant and the anchor-the right to approve any architecture for free-standing buildings in the complex. Kroger, for unspecified reasons, did not want IHOP to share their space, so they used the architectural plan as an excuse to delay the construction. Mr. Downie and his partner, Judy Kaye, then sued Kroger to block the delaying tactic.

The lawsuit was filed on or around December 5, 2005. A year later, with two Supreme Court Rulings, and a cool quarter million dollars in legal fees and loss of business, the IHOP partnership finally won their case and the restaurant was built. It nearly broke the franchisees to fight the case, but perseverance finally won the day, and the restaurant is now a thriving business.

What really made the whole case take so long was that the restaurateurs were under a gag order for the whole time. There might have been an earlier resolution if a boycott of the huge grocery store had taken place. I think that might have happened if people had been aware of the injustice that was taking place.

Well, the IHOP partners do have the satisfaction of flaunting their “David’s Rock” and the story that goes with it for customers like myself. Of course, the “Goliath” referred to is not named on the sign, but it is pretty obvious since the Kroger store is less than 100 yards away.

Now didn’t that make you feel good?