A federal judge ruled on Tuesday to dismiss a peculiar lawsuit from the now-closed New York City wine shop Sherry-Lehmann, which had accused its former owners and a notable journalist of conspiring to harm the business’s reputation, based on court documents.
Sherry-Lehmann, which closed its long-standing Park Avenue location in 2023 after facing multiple lawsuits from customers claiming they never received the wine they had purchased, attempted to blame its downfall on James B. Stewart, a writer for the New York Times, along with several of its former CEOs.
The retailer contended that Stewart and the previous executives stood to profit from this supposed smear campaign, alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—a law typically associated with organized crime cases.
In dismissing the case filed in Manhattan, US District Judge Andrew Carter stated that Sherry-Lehmann failed to demonstrate a crucial element of RICO, specifically that Stewart and the former executives—Chris Adams, Michael Yurch, and previous owner Michael Aaron—were involved in any racketeering activities.
Before the ruling, Sherry-Lehmann’s lawyer John Balestriere requested to withdraw from the case due to significant outstanding legal fees, a motion that was approved, with the judge allowing Sherry-Lehmann 30 days to secure new legal representation.
The lawsuit claimed that the Pulitzer Prize-winning Stewart disseminated “damaging false information about Sherry-Lehmann” and purportedly “orchestrated” a smear campaign in collaboration with other media outlets and the former executives.
According to the complaint, Stewart’s alleged motivation was to win another Pulitzer Prize by reporting on the decline of the century-old business.
The complaint highlighted a specific article from May 25, 2023, where Stewart reported that some wine from the company’s storage customers had been sold illicitly. Sherry-Lehmann disputed this claim.
The store accused “corrupt, self-serving journalists,” together with former executives, managers, and employees, of seeking to “inflict the maximum amount of pain” on current owners Kris Green and Shyda Gilmer.
In a separate lawsuit filed in 2023, Aaron, Yurch, and Adams are facing claims from Sherry-Lehmann’s landlord, Glorious Sun, for unpaid rent linked to the store.
These former executives have argued they distanced themselves from the business long before its decline and have no financial interest in it, according to legal documents.
Sherry-Lehmann suggested that negative media coverage led to raids by law enforcement—including the FBI and U.S. Postal inspectors—on its upscale Park Avenue store and its storage facility, Wine Caves, located in Pearl River, NY.
These raids, occurring in 2023 and 2024, contributed to order cancellations from customers and potential buyers, according to the suit.
Stewart, known for his 1991 book “Den of Thieves,” about the Michael Milken insider trading scandal, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his reporting on the stock market crash during his time at the Wall Street Journal.
Aaron and Adams declined to comment on the situation, while neither Stewart nor Yurch provided immediate responses. Attempts to reach Gilmer and Green were unsuccessful.
