10/22/2020
Jess’ Lunch
Tuesday , October 6th was bittersweet as I closed one chapter in my life but yet started another. I feel that I owe it to you all, my customers of over 17 years, to inform you what has really been taking place for Jess’ over the last 7 plus months and not the lies that the media is making it about, mainly because that is all that they know up until now when they are finally reaching out to hear from me. First, I’ll start with I am not perfect nor have I ever claimed to be. I have always tried to do what is correct to the best of my knowledge. I have always tried to run the business to the best of my ability with no prior restaurant experience, while meeting my father in law while I was working for an attorney who was his former real estate partner back in the 80’s and early 90’s.
I have always heard that when someone is down and out is when another will want to kick them even further down and that for years I have heard that there are always dishonest attorneys. Also that you find out who your true friends and family are when you need them the most. Never before experiencing any of this until this year. First let me THANK the ones that have reached out to me, rather it be a simple call, text, message and some even visiting me in person. Your acts of kindness will never be forgotten, ever. I had made a commitment to the city @ the beginning of 2020 for some late taxes with the agreement of paying each month with my commercial real estate rental property in Broadway, with which a month later my tenant decided to hold in an escrow account hoping to make me sell him my property. Another way of explaining it is he was buying time to stay and continue to do business for as long as he could drag the court date out. With COVID-19, this made it so that it has now been over 9 months and three different judges later it was moved to an escrow account in Rockingham General District Court. Therefore,until the case is over I have no access to my money. And for the record, I have not in anyway tried to be reached for comment by the DNR or WHSV on either of these matters as they had stated, until recently. (WHSV has now reached out to the luray location trying to contact me to do an interview and I will return their call) This is in no way associated with the closing of the business that I designed, completely paid for everything in the building and operated completely on my own for over 17 years plus not only paid for the building (thru mine and only my checking account- just getting it paid off in 2019) but also paid my father in law rent for over 13 years totaling almost $800,000.
A little over a year ago, my father in law, Gus G. Floros, approached not only myself , but his other caregivers and his nephews reaching out to all of us individually to help him find a new attorney for his estate needs because he did no longer trust the firm that he had been dealing with for years. ( No names will be mentioned in this article but feel free to contact me personally for I will be more than happy to tell you which firm, attorney and colleges you should never use for your estate planning unless you want a complete dishonest and chaotic nightmare following a family death) He claimed that he thought that they may have another blood relative of his as their main interest and not his and wanted to find another firm for his estate planning needs. After several months of none of us taking him serious, he then again called on us after a home visit from both his attorney and also an old realtor associate of the past both showing up together at his house. He claimed he felt as though they may try to benefit from his real estate and maybe even try to sell some of his life long properties. (Anyone knowing him knew that he was always very set on never selling anything that he owned, ever and had drilled into us not to ever let that happen) Well, today, over 6 long months after his death, I can assure you that his nephews, close friends and I wish we would have listened to him without a doubt. After all, He always did know what he was talking about. This firm has not only done what he had invisioned but worse than he could ever imagine. That attorney and the same realtor now has both of his houses (that he left my son in his will) up for sale. You see, just in case you didn’t realize the realtor and the attorney will make commission off of selling the properties.
As most of you know, my son, John Kohl is not a blood grandson, but an adopted grandson named after my deceased husband, John Gus Floros. Gus met him when he was two weeks old and over the last eleven years, repeatedly told us how much he loved him and how he was what was keeping him alive as we lived with him majority of the time after the passing of his oldest son, George in 2014. This obviously was an issue for this attorney, as he stated in an email sent to me that he had thought that John Kohl was some type of blood relative and not someone that I may of just gotten from somewhere.
The day after my father in law passed away, I was at the funeral home with the funeral director when I received a call from my friend, Gus’ caregiver stating that John Kohl and her had been woken up by the attorney and Gus’ oldest grandson and told that we needed to vacate the premises (need I remind everyone that we lived there with him & John Kohl was left the house in the will) as the locks were being changed immediately. I came back to the house and this attorney would not look me in my eyes nor speak directly to me because he knew this was morally wrong in every way possible! I’m assuming because he knew that I knew the house was being left to my son, John Kohl in the will and not the oldest grandson as was originally planned in a much earlier will. Especially since he also knew that my father in law had told several of us that he had paid in cash to his oldest grandson almost $200,000, since he changed his will in 2018, because the grandson felt entitled to it since he was no longer getting the real estate. My father in law was so upset about a phone conversation that he had previously had with his oldest grandson demanding all of the money before something happened that he had resulted into asking and borrowing money from several other family members.
To this day, the attorney still hasn’t spoken one word personally to me.
In fact, he had an auction with my father in laws personal belongings at his residence last month knowing that I had furnished several of the belongings when adding an addition to the house in 2018. He was given an entire list of my items shortly after the passing of Gus and I was personally told by his secretary that all my belongings would be left in the house for me to get at some point. I was not informed about this auction AT ALL! I was contacted and told a day before by a friend. As they saw it being set out at the house. No one else even tried to contact me. When I called the auctioneer (whom was very understanding and respectful) the morning of the sale, he told me to bring my receipts and any of my property would not be auctioned @ the sale that day. Upon showing up with most of my receipts for my belongings, the attorney’s secretary disappears into the house to call the attorney (whom you never see since the passing of my father in law, always either using his secretary or another associate in his firm. Imagine why 😬🤔 🥱) She returns to tell me that my personal property will be sold because I owe them back rent money for Jess - $5,000 each month since the passing of my father in law. (Need I remind you that upon the time of Gus’ passing we were closed by the governor due to COVID-19! and that they are asking that I not be present during the auction of my father in laws and my personal property!! Well let me tell you, I made a BFF within five minutes at the auction explaining my situation and thanks to her I bought back over $6,000 in personal property. The look on the secretary’s face at the end of the day when I returned to pay was priceless as I was in tears thanking this person and telling her that I’m so glad there are a few good people left in this world.
My son was left several of his Papou’s properties, including Jess’ on East Market Street. (Gus had told us that I was to continue to run the restaurant and when John Kohl was 25 years old he would own the building and we could share the business or he could take it over. John Kohl is an 11 year old child) or if I wanted to retire to close and rent the building out (something that Gus and I had previously talked about because he wanted me to spend more time with John Kohl and my other two younger children that I had received emergency custody of in September 2018).
However, I did receive an email from the attorney, stating that he would be selling most all of the property that was left to John Kohl (only selling real estate that was left to my son) including the commercial property if he couldn’t get sufficient rent from the property. He also stated that he maybe would consider to rent the building to me for a period of one year with a $10,000 deposit and $5,000 a month rental agreement all going into a trust account for my son, John Kohl.
I felt that this was absurd and outrageous as I was left to continue to operate Jess until my son is of age 25 or lease the building and split the profit yearly with my son until he is old enough to inherit the building. You see this is only a building and isn’t something that you take with you. So, I refused to pay him any rental money at all mainly because I not only designed the restaurant ended up opening up the business account solely in my name only, paying for all the equipment and then paid rental to my father in law after my husband passed in 2006 totaling almost $800,000 at which my father in law and I had a verbal agreement that once the restaurant was paid for I wouldn’t have to ever pay rent again and would one day own the building. And how convenient that I paid it off (never late for one payment wanting to keep his credit good) last year. So now, let me tell you what this boils down to. One word MONEY. You see the attorney makes a percentage off of all of this real estate and I’m sure he’s also non to happy that over the past several years my father in-law used me to represent him in court when evicting tenants etc to save from paying even more to this firm than he had too. I’m also sure that he is non too happy that he has to pay me fifty percent of any yearly income or profit from the business/building yearly until my son’s of age to take it over. So , he has had nothing but time to sue me for rent money from April until September and his latest is suing me for all of my equipment that I have receipts for (even equipment that belonged to my commercial property from Broadway restaurant location).
Within 48 hours I had to remove as much of my belongings as possible to store (just in case there should ever be another great location for another restaurant or more than likely selling my equipment while retiring and moving on to the next chapter of my life. One I am very much looking forward too.
The moral of this story is I would just like to thank this so called firm for showing me whom I would never want to use or recommend to anyone. I wouldn’t dare wish this upon anyone (especially what they have put my 11 year old son through) and more than anything thank them for making me realize that they can do whatever they want (they will have to answer for it someday, no one but themselves) but they can never ever take away our memories that we will always have and cherish with Gus as family. More than anything, I now have the opportunity to do something I have always wanted to do, be a stay at home mom. I now have the ability to spend more time with my two adult children, Brittany Felix and Dalton Wood and to focus on my 5 children at home( Skyla, John Kohl, Elijah, Revalynn and Maverick (yes, for those of you that didn’t already know, I did get immediate custody of Revaylnn & Maverick’s older brother and sister, Elijah and Skyla back in August) .
Also, I am wanting to let everyone know that you can still get your original Jess’ fix in Luray, Virginia. (where there is not only dine in but drive thru and also delivery) 540-669-5236. We also sell our chili (with Gus original recipe that he passed on to me) there just like we did @ Jess’ on Market Street. Stay connected to our page (later changing to The Jess’ Lunch Box) for our whereabouts as to where the food truck will be traveling with our cook of over 25+ some years and some of our favorite original Jess’ waitresses, traveling very soon in the future, now more than ever with the demand needing to be met in Rockingham County with no current fixed location for Jess’.
Again, THANK YOU to each and everyone of our customers for supporting us over the last 17 years while on East Market Street.
Sincerely,
Cynthia A. Floros
