Complaint Review: Russ Gallette - West Palm Beach Florida

UPDATE- BENISASIA FAMILY (SEASPRAY HOTEL OWNERS) PALM BEACH SHORES FLORIDA

A second Mississauga funeral home may be shut down for alleged shoddy business practices, this one owned by the brother of the man behind a popular funeral home chain accused of cutting corners during embalmings. Lee Funeral Home is at risk of losing its licence over accusations of unpaid debts to suppliers and the city. The situation is of such concern that it spurred Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion to intervene. The long-time family-owned funeral parlour, a mainstay in the historic community of Streetsville for nearly 80 years, changed hands in August 2012. The new owner, Roy Benipersaud, is accusing the provincial regulator of “maliciously” trying to run him out of business at the same time as it’s trying to shut down Benisasia Funeral Home, which is run by Benipersaud’s brother and sister-in-law.

“It raises the question of selective prosecution,” said Harris Rosen, lawyer for both Benipersaud and the owner of Benisasia, Prabhjot “Jyoti” Johal, who is married to Rick Benisasia. “It is, at the very least, unusual and perhaps suspect. I don’t necessarily buy into the fact that it’s a coincidence,” Rosen said. A spokesperson for the Board of Funeral Services, which regulates funeral homes in Ontario, said it is happenstance that the board is trying to shut down both brothers’ homes simultaneously. The cases against the homes are separate, and each will “stand on its own merit,” Peter Jordan said. On Jan. 6, the board announced its plans to pull the licences of the two Benisasia locations, alleging the business had skimped on chemicals while embalming hundreds of corpses, causing bodily fluids to leak from the deceased in the middle of funeral services. The homes’ owner denies the allegations and is appealing the revocation of the licences. Ten days later, the board moved to shut down Lee Funeral Home, alleging the new owner, Benipersaud, lacks integrity and fiscal responsibility and was putting consumers at risk. The allegations, spelled out in the board’s proposal to revoke the home’s licence, have not been proven in court. Benipersaud is appealing the board’s sanctions to a provincial tribunal, which ordered the records be made public last week after the Star filed a motion for their disclosure. The funeral home owed money to casket suppliers for several months, the board alleges. In one case, suppliers refused to deliver a casket because of the unpaid debt, leaving the home unable to provide a customer with the coffin she had already paid for. Provincial inspectors also found the funeral home owed money to the City of Mississauga for death registrations, as well as refunds to the estates of several deceased who had overpaid on prepaid contracts, the board says. “I am led to believe that the Establishment cannot be expected to operate in accordance with the law and with integrity and honesty,” said Doug Simpson, the registrar for the board, in a letter outlining the allegations. Benipersaud’s lawyer, however, describes him as a rookie funeral home operator who is making every effort to follow the rules. Benipersaud has repaid any significant debts he has with suppliers and refunded customers who were owed money, according to his appeal documents. “There is not a shred of evidence of dishonesty,” the appeal says, and adds Benipersaud denies he lacks integrity. Benipersaud has also hired a chartered accountant to help assuage any concerns that he is financially irresponsible and minimize any risk to the public. “I don’t want problems or whatnot. I stay low-key,” said Benipersaud, sitting behind his desk in the wood-panelled front office of Lee Funeral Home in early March. “I stay out of trouble. But sometimes trouble follows you.” Even if the board’s allegations could be proven, its proposal to shut down the home and eliminate Benipersaud’s livelihood is excessive and unreasonable, his lawyer said. “Is the board’s punishment in this case proportionate with the allegations? I say, ‘Not even remotely,’ ” Rosen said. The board’s Jordan said the regulator is justified in invoking its most severe penalty and stripping Lee Funeral Home of its licence. “It’s also in the public interest that we take this step. We don’t do it lightly,” Jordan said. There was such concern over the home’s outstanding debt with the city that McCallion contacted the business, the board says. In Benipersaud’s appeal, his lawyer called the intervention of McCallion “puzzling,” as the value of the outstanding accounts was at most a few thousand dollars. A city spokesperson said the municipality does not comment on specific outstanding accounts, and McCallion’s office refused to answer why she intervened. Mississauga Councillor George Carlson, who represents Streetsville, said he wasn’t surprised to hear of the mayor’s involvement as she typically takes a hand-on approach. If Lee Funeral Home loses its licence it will be a big blow to Streetsville, Carlson said. “It’s almost a chapel or a meeting place, and has always been a very integral part of Streetsville,” Carlson said. “If we didn’t have our funeral home, it would be much akin to closing a school or closing a post office.” The namesake of the funeral home, Lenvard Lee, was well-respected and would have been “mortified,” Carlson said, to learn of the troubles surrounding the business that bears his name. Contact reporter Jesse McLean at (((REDACTED)))

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The SeaSpray Beach Resort in Palm Beach Shores filed Chapter 11 reorganization to fend off a foreclosure lawsuit.

UCF I Trust, an affiliate of Boston-based UC Credit Services, filed a foreclosure lawsuit in 2014 against SeaSpray Resort and managing members Prabhjot Benisasia and Rick Benisasia. The borrower responded with a counter claim against the lender for breach of contract. The case was about to head to trial.

SeaSpray Resort filed for reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in West Palm Beach on Feb. 2. The largest creditor is UCF I Trust with the $5 million loan, although the hotel also owes property taxes, fines for code violations, and money to vendors. It estimated the value of the hotel at $2.6 million.

The 36,074-square-foot hotel is on the 0.65-acre site at 123 Ocean Ave., alongside a public beach. SeaSpray Resort acquired it for $4 million in 2013.

West Palm Beach attorney David Lloyd Merrill, who represents the debtor in Bankruptcy Court, said the hotel ran into trouble after the lender refused to provide $1.5 million in funds under the loan to complete construction.

“After telling them to do demolition on two floors, with about 50 units, they [the lender] found issues to claim a technical default,” Merrill said. “Now you have a hotel where two-thirds of the units aren’t generating any profits.”

Merrill said the hotel is still open with a limited number of rooms, but the owner needs to finish renovating the 50 units rooms to maximize its potential. He plans to file a reorganization plan with the court in 30 days.

“We would like to see everybody get paid and the hotel get productive and work,” Merrill said. “We want to make sure everybody gets what they originally bargained for, the bank included.

Miami attorney David Trench, who represents UCF I Trust in the foreclosure, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

THIS IS REALLY FUNNY THAT THE OWNEERS OF THE SEASPRAY ARE SO DESPERATE TO DRAG EVEYONE IN TOWN INTO THIS. FIRST OFF THE SON JUSTIN HAS NEVER BEEN MARRIED NOR DOES HE HAVE CHILDREN, SECONDLY, SANDY THE MOTHER OF THIS FAMILY DOES NOT DO DRUGS WHATSOEVER NOR DO ANY OF THEM LIVE IN A TRAILOR...HA HA! NICE TRY AS I SAID JUST GOOGLE THE BENISASIA NAME YOU WILL SEE ALL CROOKS AND PATHALOGIOCAL LIARS. IT IS SO SAD THAT THEY CONTINUE TO TRY TO RUIN A HARDWORKING MAN HOW HAS RESPECT FROM EVEYONE HE HAS CONTACT WITH. ASK AROUND THE CITY. AND THEN ASK ABOUT THE OWNERS OF THE SEAPSRAY. THEN YOU CAN ALL DECIDE. THIS IS A HE SAID SHE SAID BUT KEEP IN MIND THE BENISIA FAMILY HAVE A LOMG HISTORY OF LIES AND DECEPTION UNDER OATH.    

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RUSS GALLETTE and JUSTIN GALLETTE and SANDY GALLETTE (WIFE) have been arrested from their Trailer Home many time for battery, drug abuse and assault. All the wrong things are being said about us as we caught him working without license. Now Florida Department of Business and Professional Regualtions is after him for charging and invoicing people and companies without license. HE IS A CROOK and HIS FAMILY. STAY AWAY FROM THEM

The moral of this ripoff report was to get back at Mr. Gallette becasue he did $5,000 worth of repair to an air conditioning unit...and the owners of the SeaSpray hotel refused to pay him a week before Christmas. This is a Fake Rip off Report used to try to ruin his reputation. Lawyers have already been contacted and a team of people (who have been formally employed by the seapsray) that have been either ripped off or never payed, have all come together to sue this hotel owner. 

FEEL FREE TO READ THE TRAIL OF WICKED WAYS THAT THESE OWNERS HAVE LEFT BEHIND.  FROM LYING UNDER OATH TO, RUINING PEOPLE LIES WITH DECEPTION AND GREED. NOTHING WILL STOP THESE TWO. THEY HAVE HAD MANY BUSINESSES THAT THEY HAVE CONNED PEOPLE AND EVENTUALLY HAD TO CLOSE THE DOORS AND RELOCATION TO OTHER COUNTIES. BE CAREFUL OF THSE TWO. YOU CAN READ ALL OVER THE PLACE WHAT THIS COUPLE HAS DONE TO OTHER PEOPLE. THIS IS NOT JUST IN REGARDS TO MR. GALLETE. THIS IS IN REGARD TO ANYONE WHO COMES IN COTACT WITH THESE TWO. 

JUST GOOGLE :  BENISASIA FUNERAL HOME REVOKED

AND SEE THE TYPE OF PEOPLE THESE TWO REALLY ARE. THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO RUIN PEOPLES LIVE AND THIS RIP OFF REPORT IS JUST ONE OF THOSE WAYS.

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