5th Lawsuit Filed Against Sickles Market From Unpaid Food Vendor

LITTLE SILVER, NJ — What's the latest with shuttered Sickles Market in Little Silver?

A fifth lawsuit was just filed — again by a food distributor saying they are owed money — against Sickles and its owner, Bob Sickles, Jr., who lives nearby in Rumson. Also, in an April 5 letter to his former employees, Sickles admitted he owes his health insurance carrier money as well.

The latest lawsuit was filed April 2 by Performance Food Group, a food distributor located in Elizabeth. Performance Food Group says they are owed $60,517 for food deliveries they dropped off before both Sickles locations abruptly closed a few months ago.

Performance Food Group did not specify what exact foods they delivered to Sickles. They are seeking to be reimbursed a total of $75,646 with interest and attorney fees.

Sickles Market closed its Red Bank offshoot in mid-February and then closed their main market in Little Silver March 11.

Last week, former Sickles hourly employees said market owner Sickles, Jr. failed to pay their health insurance through March, despite promises that he would. The hourly employees, who did not want to be named, said they all received letters on April 5 notifying them that their COBRA coverage was terminated.

One employee provided Patch with a letter personally signed by Sickles, Jr. It read:

"I regret to inform you that despite Sickles Market's initial hope that you would be offered the opportunity to continue your group health coverage under the federal COBRA law, the Company is not in a position to offer COBRA coverage. The reason for this is that the company is financially unable to pay its healthcare carriers for back premiums it owes, and as a result our Company-sponsored active employee healthcare coverage terminated on Feb. 29, 2024."

The hourly employee, who worked at Sickles for the past 12 years, is fuming, saying that employees may have seen a doctor in March under the assumption they were covered.

"It seems everyone is content on just moving on while we are out of work," she said. "It is another lie he has told us. We were told flat-out by Bob that he paid it up to the end of March. It would be nice if he was held accountable. So now if employees went to the doctor (in March) we weren’t covered? That is all OK with everyone?"

As of April 16, a list of all the lawsuits filed against Sickles Market/Bob Sickles:

• On March 1, Metrovation, the owner of the Anderson building in Red Bank sued, saying Sickles owes $324,000 in unpaid rent.
• On March 14, a Monmouth Beach woman filed a small claims complaint, saying Sickles sold her a $3,000 gift card weeks before the store abruptly shut down all locations. She alleges Sickles knew it would close when it sold her the expensive gift card. She is seeking to be repaid $2,500.
• On March 18, Holiday Meats, located in Little Silver, sued. They say Sickles owes them more than $100,000 for unpaid meat deliveries.
• Also on March 18, a joint lawsuit was filed by Farmlind Produce, LLC, and Four Seasons Produce, two wholesale fruit and vegetable suppliers. They used the same lawyer and filed together. In total, the two fruit and vegetable wholesalers say Sickle owes them a combined $298,710 in unpaid debts. Farmlind says it is owed $213,218.94, and Four Seasons says it is owed $85,492. The two companies said they are currently suffering "immediate and irreparable harm" by being owed such high amounts of outstanding debts.

Bottles by Sickles, the liquor store, is still in business in Red Bank.

Sickles Sold Expensive Gift Cards Just Before Closing, Complaint Says (March 21)

2nd Lawsuit Against Sickles Market: Meat Vendor Says It's Owed $100K (March 19)

2 More Companies Say Sickles Market Owes Them $298K In Unpaid Debts (March 18)

Vendors, Employees Say Sickles Owes Them Thousands Of Dollars (March 14)