*Gladys Knight’s son is refusing to remove her name from his Atlanta restaurant chain because, as he claims in new court documents, she lacks the “mental capacity” to rescind the licensing deal.
Knight had ordered her son, Shanga Hankerson, to take her name off of his Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles restaurants after he was accused of stealing from the business.
But Hankerson has now moved to block his mother removing her name from the operation reports The Daily Mail. The court documents, filed Thursday, say “Plaintiff’s claims are barred, in whole or in part, [sic] lack of mental capacity to rescind the license agreement granted to Defendants.”
The legendary singer has nothing to do with the business and only allowed her son to use her name under a licensing deal.
But the arrangement went south after the Department of Revenue accused Hankerson of theft and tax evasion in June. Federal agents raided three of the restaurants in Georgia and shut down operations. Officials claimed that Hankerson stole over $650,000 in sales taxes and withheld taxes owed to the state. The total, with penalties and interest, surpasses $1 million dollars. He was booked into Clayton County Jail on June 22 on felony theft charges related to the unpaid taxes.
Knight, age 72, sued her son and his companies, Rival Group, Cascade Foods and Granite Foods. It included a cease and desist in July to Hankerson.
But despite an Aug. 17 email from Hankerson’s attorney, in which she says Hankerson has “no desire to fight his mother for use of her name,” he has yet to remove her name from the restaurants.
According to The Daily Mail, the licensing deal between the family members lasted ten years but expired in 2009. The pair continued to have an oral licensing arrangement until this year, but after her son’s alleged misdemeanors Knight wanted out.
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