By Joe Anuta
A kosher hot dog vendor has vowed to appeal a judge’s conclusion that the New York Mets can bar it from hawking glatt wieners on the Sabbath.
Kosher Sports had filed suit against the Mets in 2010 after the Amazin’s forbade them to operate Friday nights and Saturdays.
The Mets declined to comment for this article, citing the fact that litigation is ongoing.
But Rabbi Gerald Skolnik, from the Forest Hills Jewish Center, shed some light on the problem, calling it Kosher 101.
The Sabbath runs from Friday night to Saturday night and, according to Jewish law, cooking is forbidden, he said.
“If you have a kosher eating establishment, Jews are not allowed to work on the Sabbath,” he said. “I think the point is that they would want their kosher hot dog vendor to not be open on the Sabbath as to appeal to the largest swatch of Jews.”
But Kosher Sports took issue and filed suit against the Mets, claiming that Queens Ballpark Co., which operates Citi Field, violated the terms of their contract.
But on Feb. 21, Judge Jack Weinstein tossed out the suit in Brooklyn Federal Court, ruling that the ball team upheld its end of a 10-year contract with the vendor.
“The contract … does not, as [Kosher Sports] argues, provide the right to sell its products at each and every Mets game,” Weinstein said in his ruling.
Kosher Sports thought otherwise, arguing that the Mets breached the contract by specifically excluding them on the two days in question, as well as denying them the number of vending spots laid out in the contract.
But not only did Kosher Sports have its suit tossed out, Weinstein ruled that Kosher Sports had, in fact, breached the contract by not paying for advertising rights in protest of the snack embargo.
Edward Normand, a lawyer for Kosher Sports, said the vender would appeal the ruling.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
