Dear friends and loyal clients,
With great sadness our restaurant has been closed the past Christmas week and will continue to be until January 6th. We are caught up in a fight between our landlord and past partner who both for one reason or another want us to fail and move on and have closed our doors temporary.
We are very sorry to have missed you and hope this will not discourage you from dining with us in the future. Our staff is still with us and waiting for the doors to open soon and we will be very happy to see you then.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at CASANOVA!
Silvia, Rick and the gang
Update December 19th. 2009
We wanted everyone to know that we are closed because of an agreement Silvia's ex husband/partner Roberto signed in secret, using false documentation and enrolled us in the Labor Union committing us into paying the union a monthly amount. Maybe by design, the Union sent no representatives to meet with either our workers, Silvia or I to explain our enrolment and the benefits of belonging.
Silvia and I were totally unaware of this agreement and obviously did not make the 600 plus dollar monthly payments. At some point recently, the Union contacted Roberto to ask why they had not received their payments, and at a meeting held outside the restaurant while it was closed without or knowledge, Roberto told a story to the effect the company had no money and could not pay. At that point he signed another document that allowed the union to call a strike and the union has closed us because they had not received their payments that Roberto promised them.
Our attorney only found this out by going to La Paz and meeting with the union - at the time the union closed us, they gave us no paperwork, just said we were on strike. A meeting is scheduled tomorrow to meet with the president of the arbitrage court, present our evidence this is a fraud and hopefully allow us to open.
Update Dec. 20th, All we got is to present our documents, no conversations. Another meeting is set for the 24th when after review of the documents we should get a resolution to be open again.
Update December 24th,
Our meeting ended suddenly today with the Union requesting that Silvia prove she is the only person authorized to sign for the company. Can you believe this? !! So the process is stopped until we present evidence to that effect - that we have already provided all corporate papers and our last assembly meeting where everyone including accountants, lawyers and notary were present. The arbitrage court is now closed for vacation until after the first of the year and will not allow us to open until our next meeting.
Update Jan. 1, 2010
With the Christmas vacations over finally our meeting today was supposed to end in the resolution from the arbitrage court to allow us to open again. We presented proof that Silvia, who has been the majority Owner and Administrator since opening the restaurant has been and still is in fact, is the only person who can sign legal documents for the company. The court says now it has to take another week to review this information and determine if she is indeed the rightful administrator and if so, to continue the investigation which was halted when this was brought up.
Update Jan. 8, 2010
Sad to say we have not yet been able to solve our problems with those who seem intent on running us out of business. With each meeting, the 'other side' presents more nonsense to delay the final decision in what the arbitrator claims must be examined per the legal procedure.
Update Jan. 12, 2010
A meeting yesterday with all parties again resulted in a new attempt by the bad guys to derail the final decision by asking that Roberto give a statement. The President of the Arbitrage says he needs another week to determine if he will allow this but at least has halted the presentation of any new challenges or documentation. Our hope is that someone will not be bribed to influence that outcome.
Jan. 19th
The court has allowed a statement to be given by Roberto. Who would guess that the union says it cannot find the time to do this however until January 28th- we are still closed. Sorry to have missed you. Stay tuned. Rick
Jan 29th
Roberto failed to show up for his deposition, much to the dismay of the Labor representatives. The Judge will now begin his final review of the case and render his decision in the next day or two.
Feb 2nd
Opps, little problem, a new delay, the judge told us that he can not make his decision yet as he is waiting on a document from Social Security to validate that our workers had been properly hired and were in the system. This is the first we heard of this one.
Feb. 5th
Our attorney has an appointment with the Judge on Monday to personally hand over the document that to SS has yet not to send (it was requested in December). Verbally, the judge says he will give us our papers to reopen on that day. We shall see but it looks as though we are getting very close.
We appreciate all the emails we have gotten from all of you!!!
Feb 9th
It seems as though the arbitrage court has finally been touched by the other side. Our attorney had to wait days for the court to give us written permission to personally pick up these papers here in Cabo and hand deliver them to the court up to La Paz. After getting them, our attorney drove to La Paz to find that no one at the court would stamp them as received. After much 'conversation' our attorney won out and got a receipt for the documents. Now the clock starts ticking and supposedly, the court has 24 hours to give the final resolution.
Feb 12 - Anyone following along must think all this impossible to happen - well guess what, this is a very corrupt country and if you have money, you can pay practically anyone to do whatever you want - we are firmly of the belief that this holds true in our case as the entire process is riddled with questions that no one cares to answer and it seems that the only thing the other side is interested in is money, gotten legally or not - workers best interest, absolutely not.
We delivered the Social Security documents on Tuesday which according to law started the clock ticking for the President of the arbitrage to give his final resolution of weather this strike called by the union is allowed or not. He had 24 hours. Here we are at Friday and so far the only answer given to us is that they are very busy and will get around to it.
Hang in with us, again thanks to all who have written us in support. We are fighting to reopen as soon as possible.
Feb. 14th
Yesterday the attorney (who by the way looks like the Pillsbury dough-boy) for the Union made us an offer - pay 20,000 pesos for my fees, stop telling everyone that the agreement is a fraud, sign a new life time agreement with the Union, pay the Union 2% of your payroll and we will let you open your restaurant! CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE CRIMINALS!!! This attempt by the Union gives us even more reason to believe that the Arbitrage Court is being paid to delay our final resolution - either that or they know they will lose this case and are trying last minute to squeeze us into a real agreement.
We have contacted the Governor and Senator of Baja for assistance and will hopefully be able to talk with them this next week. Also the Spanish news papers are interested in our story - stay tuned.
Rick
Feb 24.
We heard from the Senator who like us has his own problems with Unions and unfortunately cannot offer any assistance, it was kind though to hear from him. As of yesterday, the President of the arbitrage has gone against a document he created stating that he would not allow either party to request more evidence or more clearly, for the Union seeking more ways to delay the process. Our guess is that he is now also being paid since he declared suddenly that he is going to allow the Union to delay the process once again by requesting more information. This is just unthinkable and we are beginning to wonder if we shall ever see an end to the process. Our attorney is there today arguing our case we shall see how that goes.
March 5. if there is any good news it is that the unions request for more information was turned down however that did not prevent the court from asking for something else. Another week has passed and we still have no idea what is going on. We still after three months, are refused a copy of the documents the Roberto signed. This is beyond ridiculous and we apologize to all who have tried to visit us and especially the wedding party that we just lost. It's too bad there is not someone to write that will offer support but we have tried. Corruption is simply what this town runs on and that probably will never change.
March 18
Well the truth (if there is such a thing in Mexico) finally comes out - our senator of Baja (who opposes the current political party) has a hotel in La Paz that has had their own share of labor trouble, for about a year and a half. It seems their problem is just as ours is which has to do with fraud. The same court who is in charge of his case, well guess what, is the same as ours.
While the President of the court says publicly there is something wrong with our case, he claims there is NO POINT OF LAW THAT DEALS WITH OUR Situation so he cannot rule in our favor and says the agreement with the labor union stands. More to the point, if he was to be honest, do the job he is supposed to do, make a decision on the facts instead of taking bribe money from the union to vote their way the evidence we presented proves without any question our position.
But no. For him to agree with us would mean the case against the senator would have a legal president and a ruling would then be in his favor not the union and unions never can loose or they would fail altogether and then the union leaders would not get all money they make and would have to get a real job.
All we can say is this, we don't know what will happen next. If you love us and want to support us, you can certainly write to the President of Mexico ( it seems he is the only one working towards ending corruption) and ask him to investigate (of course he won't but if everyone who has written us did, we would certainly get his attention). Our US Counsel has refused to offer any assistance because the US Government has a bigger agenda with Mexico (NAFTA) and does not want to dirty the water with us little folks.
If something changes, I'll post it. All I can say is that if anyone wants to own a business in Baja, they should have their head examined as I have not yet met one who has not been screwed here.
Thanks to all for your kind emails,
R & S
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Welcome to Casanova, our little slice of paradise quietly nestled in one of the worlds most popular destinations, Cabo San Lucas. It is our hope the information you will find on our site will encourage you to give us a try on your next visit.
Casanova can best be described as an elegant and romantic, yet friendly family restaurant. Our unique venue features a little slice of Venice right here in Cabo, offering both open air and palapa covered dining areas. The warm, earthtoned decor and gorgeous pink flowers create a feeling of comfort upon entry. Throughout the restaurant you will find Venetian carneval masks, even the ones used in the Hollywood film ¨Ëyes Wide Shut¨¨ and a selection of worldfamous glass sculptures blown in Murano island. The air is filled with the beautiful music of Andrea Bocelli, whose live concerts play on large screen videos under the palapa roof.
Our commitment to a true Venetian experience does not stop with the sights and sounds. Casanova is also passionately dedicated to preserving the original meaning of the mediterranean diet. All dishes are cooked with extra vergine olive oil and light, low fat sauces.
Might we tempt you with a Ceasar salad prepared tableside or perhaps our Carpaccio di tonno, paperthin slices of fresh caught tuna with a lemon-olive oil vinaigrette. For a main course indulge yourself with a popular Venetian recipe, Spaghetti alla Busara (juicy jumbo blue shrimp sauteed with cherry tomato in a brandy-prosecco garlic and olive oil sauce, served on a bed of al dente spaghetti) or why not a whole fresh Red Snapper, baked Venetian style in a salt mantle, spectacularly flambeed prior to serving.
These are only a small sampling of what awaits your visit to CASANOVA. We are open daily from 5.00 - 11.00 p.m.with seating up to 120 people. Large parties, children and reservations are gladly welcomed.
Thank you for taking your valuable time to visit us here. We look forward to seeing you at our doorsteps very soon.
Silvia & Rick
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| Spaghetti alla Busara |
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| Combination Platter for 2 |
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| Capesanta Gratinata |
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