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Local restaurateur’s hearing on contempt Feb. 2; trial rescheduled

Boulevard Haus owner’s fraud trial delayed until April.

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By Mark Fisher, Staff Writer 11:18 PM Monday, January 23, 2012

DAYTON — The trial of Boulevard Haus owner Eva Christian, charged with five felony counts accusing her of insurance fraud, has been postponed until April.

But Christian is due in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court next week to explain to a judge why she should not be held in contempt of court for failing to comply with court orders to produce documents and provide testimony in a civil case in which she is being sued by The Cincinnati Insurance Co. The company paid a $52,000 insurance claim to Christian after she reported a break-in at her Washington Twp. home in October 2009. She reported that televisions, computers, jewelry, rare coins and a safe containing cash were stolen, according to a police report.

The Cincinnati Insurance Company and Montgomery County sheriff’s investigators believe that the burglary was staged, according to the insurance company’s lawsuit filed against Christian in July. That break-in, along with a second incident on Christmas Eve 2009 involving reported vandalism and a fire at the now-defunct Cena Brazilian Steakhouse restaurant in Miami Twp. that Christian owned, are the basis of the criminal charges filed against the restaurant owner in March 2011.

Christian faces one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, and four lesser felony counts: two of insurance fraud and two of making false alarms.

She has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and in an interview has called the accusations against her “absolutely absurd and false.” The restaurant owner is free on her own recognizance after posting a $10,000 surety bond. Boulevard Haus remains open and is operating business as usual.

The trial on the criminal charges, which had been scheduled to begin in late February, was pushed back to April 23 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara P. Gorman, according to court records.

But in the civil case, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gregory F. Singer has ordered Christian to appear Feb. 2 to explain why she hasn’t complied with the judge’s July 21 order to provide documents and testimony in the case.

The insurance company has tried to get Christian to submit to an examination under oath, as required by her insurance policy, but Christian has refused, citing her Fifth Amendment rights against incriminating herself. The lawsuit seeks to force her to comply with the questioning.

The restaurateur’s former attorneys, John Smith and Mark Webb of Springboro, had attempted to stop the proceedings of the civil case while the criminal charges were pending. A three-judge panel rejected Christian’s appeal, ruling that her testimony and documents requested by the insurance company can be furnished to Judge Singer for his determination whether her assertion of the Fifth Amendment applies.

Christian recently hired Dayton attorney Bobby Joe Cox to represent her in both the criminal and civil cases, according to court records.

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