New operators of Dixie Restaurant in Petersburg deny allegations that they stole the business

PETERSBURG, Va. (WRIC) -- The new operators of the beloved Dixie Restaurant in Petersburg have spoken for the first time about why they stopped making payments to the couple that sold them the restaurant, resulting in a contentious lawsuit.

Frannie and Charlie Rawlings operated the Dixie for more than a decade, until they sold it to Savannah and Dylan Yeargin. The Yeargins said they believed they bought everything under the Dixie brand, but in a recent legal filing, they claim the restaurant actually belongs to the same person who owns the building.

The Yeargins said the Rawlings only leased the building and the operations of the Dixie from that landlord.

"They actually signed a contract with my landlord stating that they were not to sell anything Dixie-related," Savannah Yeargin said in an exclusive interview with 8News. "They were trying to sell us a business that was not theirs to sell."

That realization, the Yeargins said, led them to stop paying $1,000 a week toward the total purchase price of $265,000.

The Rawlings filed a lawsuit against the Yeargins this spring, claiming the Yeargins were stealing the restaurant from them.

But in their legal response filed last week, the Yeargins disagree with that claim.

"They did not own any parts of the Dixie," Savannah Yeargin said. "So that's where this all comes down to is, what do we owe and where, who do we owe it to? What are we buying?"

Savannah Yeargin continued, saying, "We never once said that we wanted anything for free, that we were supposed to be given something."

The Yeargins' response also denies the claim that the Rawlings sold them a ''turn-key'' restaurant.

"There was a lot we had to do in here before we were ever given any business license," Savannah Yeargin said. "We weren't given anything. We worked very hard for all of this."

In response to the Yeargins' claims, the Rawlings' attorney provided a statement which said in part:

"The defendants now assert that, because the Rawlings’ original lease gave them the right to use the name “Dixie Diner” – a name the Rawlings never used – that the Rawlings somehow did not own the going concern business operation of the Dixie Restaurant. The Yeargins are wrong. After 14 years of blood, sweat, and tears, the Rawlings were the owners of the Dixie Restaurant, and had the right to sell it – which they did, to the Yeargins."

The case is now before a judge who will determine the next steps.