The owner of the now-defunct Field’s Foods local grocery chain has agreed to pay his former Pagedale landlord $800 every month for the next 26 years and nine months.
Chris Goodson’s Fields Foods was an anchor in the community nonprofit Beyond Housing’s development until the store abruptly closed in July 2023. Other Fields Foods locations followed suit before the company completely shut down.
In the months that followed, the chain was served a number of lawsuits over delinquent taxes, unpaid rent and other past-due bills.
In October 2023, Pagedale Grocery Development and Beyond Housing sued Goodson, accusing him of fraud and stealing. In the suit, Beyond Housing said that, while a tenant, Goodson asked the nonprofit to pay vendors nearly $180,000 for equipment and property he purchased for the store, and that the nonprofit reimburse him over $134,000 for additional purchases.
According to the filed petition, an internal investigation found that some equipment was never purchased, and while some was returned, other equipment and property belonging to the landlord remains unaccounted for. Goodson has previously denied these claims.
Last month, Goodson and Pagedale Grocery Development and Beyond Housing entered a consent judgement with the court where Goodson will pay his former landlord $256,961 in monthly installments of $800.
Neither Goodson nor Beyond Housing CEO Chris Krehmeyer immediately responded to requests for comment.
A jury trial is scheduled for November regarding a lawsuit against Goodson from LEAF Capital Funding, a Pennsylvania-based equipment and finance provider.
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Hannah Wyman | Post-Dispatch
Retail Reporter
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