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Former Warren Perkins says it is Perkins again

A post on the Facebook page for the Warren restaurant formerly known as Perkins indicates that the restaurant will continue to be a Perkins.

A Friday evening post on the Warren Restaurant & Bakery Facebook page (formerly the Warren Perkins Facebook page) reads: “Welcome to Perkins. As of today we will continue to operate as a Perkins.”

Regional Manager Paul Becker, who announced previously that the location would continue to be a restaurant, could not be immediately reached for comment Friday night.

The Facebook announcement follows more than a month of legal wrangling.

A Tennessee court was about to rule on whether Perkins franchisee 5171 Campbells Land Co. Inc. had to shut down all of its stores, including the one in Warren. Then, Campbells filed for bankruptcy in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Earlier this week, the Tennessee court dismissed the case.

According to a July 30 filing in the U.S. District Court Western District of Tennessee Western Division, the parties — Perkins & Marie Callender’s LLC and 5171 Campbells Land Co. Inc. — agreed to the jurisdiction of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Subsequently, the case in the Tennessee court was dismissed without prejudice.

However, the case in federal bankruptcy court moves on.

On Friday, a motion to allow claims was entered on behalf of one of Campbells’ creditors in the Western District of Pennsylvania U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

An Aug. 1 filing changed some language in a July 19 filing.

According to the new document, 5171 Campbells Land Co. Inc. must “certify in writing to PMC (Perkins), on or before Aug. 5, 2019, that it has fully complied with the TRO (temporary restraining order)” for the seven “de-commissioned restaurants.”

On July 19, the bankruptcy judge ordered that 10 Perkins locations — Warren among them — would not continue to be Perkins.

Another change indicates that the 21 restaurants that are not “de-commissioned” will be able to continue operating until Perkins enters into a new license agreement with another licensee — or Aug. 31, whichever comes first.

Exactly which category of Campbells’ restaurants the Warren location fits into in the new filing could not be determined late Friday.

The restraining order required that stores remove evidence of association with Perkins — from signage, internet presence, and uniforms, to the signature bakery case and oversized American flag.

The Warren store moved toward some of those requirements, replacing the oversized flag with a smaller one and changing the name on the Facebook page as examples.

In a Friday night search of Perkins locations on perkinsrestaurants.com, Corry, Bradford, Clarion, and Olean, N.Y., are shown as the closest Perkins restaurants. Of the 50 closest locations, including points as far as York and Scranton, Ashland, Ohio, and Toronto, there is no location indicator on Warren.

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