Lafayette’s ‘Scandals’ Owners, Facing Setbacks to Reopening, File Lawsuit

The owners of Scandals nightclub in Lafayette have filed a lawsuit after being faced with setbacks to reopening.

According to the Acadiana Advocate, Chad and Lauren Arnaud, the owners of the nightclub, were already suffering from restrictions set upon the establishment due to the coronavirus pandemic when they received an eviction notice.

According to the story, the insult-to-injury eviction notice took the Arnauds by surprise, because their lease was in good standing.

The setbacks began when the state-imposed restrictions on nightclubs took effect, causing Scandals to lose money for every night they weren't open. Then, less than a month later the owners of Scandals, a husband-and-wife team, were served with an eviction notice.

It appears that the owners of the hotel had "sold out" to a real estate company out of California, and its plans for the building didn't include a nightclub.

After some negotiations between the Arnauds' lawyers and the new company's lawyers, a 30-day grace period was allowed for the Arnauds to use the building. Things weren't looking great for the future of Scandals at this point, and then they got worse: the fire department conducted an inspection.

It appears that the hotel in which Scandals is housed had a portion of its fire prevention system that wasn't up to standards. An agreement was made between the fire department and the owners of the building to allow the electricity to remain on, but no business was to be conducted until the equipment was brought up to standards. If no business was to be conducted, Scandals could not be open.

What is really sour about this situation is that the fire department inspection that found the sprinkler issue took place almost a year earlier, according to the story, and that the owner (at the time) did not inform the Arnauds of the issue. The initial problem with the sprinkler system was found to be a minor issue at the time, but after months of continued neglect, the issue became big enough to have the fire inspectors shut down the building.

According to the Advocate, the lawsuits name both the old and new owners of the building as defendants.

Let's hope that the issues are resolved soon so that the Arnauds can get back to providing a place for Lafayette to dance.