Clare Sabatini Dies at 77; Beat Trump in Land Fight

Pacific Avenue isn’t usually a sought-after property in the game of Monopoly, which uses real Atlantic City street names. But Clare Sabatini forced Donald Trump to triple his offering price for her Pacific Avenue restaurant after defeating New Jersey’s effort to take it by condemnation.

With her husband, Vincent, by her side, she did most of the talking as the couple fought a landmark legal case that ultimately barred New Jersey from using the process of eminent domain to close a going business in order to help another going business.

They then stared down Mr. Trump until he paid around $2 million for their Italian restaurant, Sabatini’s, at 2210 Pacific Avenue. The first offer, 12 years earlier, had been $700,000.

Mrs. Sabatini died on April 23 at her home in Ventnor City, N.J., at the age of 77. Her son Stephen said no cause was determined, although she had suffered from heart problems.

“This fight is so aggravating,” she said in an interview with The New York Times in 1997 in the midst of her legal battle. “Sometimes I just have to pop my nitro and get through the day.”

There were hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, which foes of eminent domain abuses helped pay. There was even intimidation: a representative of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority threatened Mrs. Sabatini that she would be removed from her restaurant in handcuffs if she refused to sell, The Associated Press reported in 2005.

There was also humor, although Mr. Trump didn’t think so. Garry Trudeau devoted a week of his “Doonesbury” comic strip to a story line that featured a long-haired, baggy-cheeked tycoon scheming with the strip’s Uncle Duke character to get their hands on the tiny restaurant.

“Problem: How to get these yo-yos to fold and get out!” the Trump character says.

Mr. Trump responded by calling the comic a “low blow” by “a third-rate talent.” He was traveling Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Full Story: NY Times