While a popular Mercato nightclub closed earlier this week, the venue continues to fight lawsuits filed against it in recent years.

Cavo Lounge announced on social media April 26 that it had closed for good, which was two days after health inspectors closed it for violations including live roaches.

Here’s what we found.

Taxes owed, slip-and-fall, assault suits

A search of Collier County court records show Cavo Lounge was being sued and a few suits remain open:

• Collier County Tax Collector sued Cavo and hundreds of others in June 2025 for back taxes owed. The suit said Cavo (named in suits as SLR Naples Corp.) owed $6,084.60.
• Ann Ficcaro of Pasco County sued in October 2025 for more than $50,000, alleging she “slipped and fell due to a pooled liquid substance from ceiling condensation and sustained significant injuries.” No specific injuries were listed but the suit alleges that Ficcaro “suffered bodily injury in and about her body and extremities, resulting in pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, permanent and significant scarring, mental anguish” and more. Cavo responded in court records that Ficcaro “conducted herself in a careless and negligent manner, including” that she failed to watch where she was walking. Such negligence, Cavo replied, “was a contributing and/or the sole legal cause of the injuries and damages.”
• Yuksel John Bal of Lee County sued in February 2025 seeking over $50,000, claiming to have slipped and fell at Cavo on July 2023 while exiting a restroom. Bal cited an injured right ankle from slipping in a puddle of liquid. In Cavo’s questions to the plaintiff, Bal acknowledged previously suing someone for damages and settling another claim. And Cavo replied in a court filing that Bal failed to “pay attention, failing to exercise reasonable care while walking, and otherwise failing to ambulate as a reasonably prudent person. Plaintiff’s right to recover is therefore defeated or diminished as a result of her own conduct.”
• Matthew Zeitler of New York and Carole Zeitler of Collier County filed suit in March 2023, each seeking more than $30,000. They said they were at Cavo with family members in October 2022 when an intoxicated customer began to insult and berate them. The customer showed a firearm then hit each plaintiff, causing injuries. The suits were settled in December 2024.

An elderly motorist is accused of driving through a group of bicyclists in Georgia – knocking one over and fracturing his spine – before speeding off in a hit-and-run that was caught on camera.

Jerry Wayne Ross, 72, flashed a wide grin in his booking photo as he faces charges for the alleged hit-and-run with his Honda Pilot, all caught on video, on April 23 in Cherokee County, Ga, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

The North Georgia Cycling Association was on their weekly Thursday night ride when the older driver was accused of driving up on the group in a suspected road rage incident.

The cycling group was in the middle of its 32-mile ride through Cherokee County when Ross appeared behind them, blasting his horn for nearly two miles along Sugar Pike Rd in Canton.

“Just excessive. Didn’t let off the horn,” Richard Collins, the leader of the group, told Fox 5 Atlanta.

The cyclists were riding double-wide along the scenic, rural road when Ross allegedly floored forward, alongside the leading pack of the group, according to video captured by one of the cyclists and obtained by the outlet.

Ross is believed to have pulled up alongside the first group of cyclists, striking one of the riders with his passenger side mirror.

“I turned to my left to see it, at that moment, that vehicle was on my left leg,” he said.

The cyclists, who became tangled up by the bump, collided into the side of Ross’ car and crashed onto the pavement.

The vehicle sped away as Collins was left lying in the road.

Collins said he sustained road rash on his shoulder, elbow and knee and was treated by paramedics who were called to the scene.

He was later examined by an orthopedist and discovered he had suffered a fracture to his lower spine, he told the outlet.

Both cyclists were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Ross was found hiding out at a neighbor’s house down the road after officials from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spotted damage to his SUV consistent with hitting a bicycle.

The suspected driver told authorities that he had encountered the group of cyclists but denied responsibility, blaming the bikers for the collision, saying the riders had been in the middle of the road, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

Ross was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, aggressive driving, hit-and-run and failing to maintain distance, according to jail records viewed by The Post.

He remains behind bars in the Cherokee County Jail with his charges totaling $24,540.

While the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby kicks off horse racing’s Triple Crown on Saturday, this month’s Preakness Stakes will be special for multiple reasons.

First, the race will be held at Laurel Park due to Pimlico Race Course renovations. Second, this might be the last time the Preakness will be held on the third Saturday of May.

Sports Business Journal reported April 13 that the race could be moved back one week to allow for horses to recover fully from their Derby run, something that kept Sovereignty out of the Preakness last May and thus eliminating any Triple Crown talk before it even had a chance to begin.

The current format of three races in five weeks has been in place for over half a century.

“Basically etched in stone in 1969, and that was in an era when horses would run every two weeks with no issue,” said Barry Abrams, host of “The Far Turn” on the EQUUS TV Network. “But that’s not how it’s done any more. More time between races is absolutely what every trainer wants, and two weeks from the Derby to the Preakness is an anachronism. And the next media rights-holder is going to put an end to that.”

NBC has broadcast the race since 2002 and its contract ends this year. The network (which also airs the Derby) is still in the mix, as is FOX (which broadcasts the Belmont Stakes). But don’t discount ABC/ESPN, the network that aired the Preakness from 1977 to 2001.

The date isn’t the only wind of change surrounding the Preakness. Churchill Downs Incorporated said it has entered into an agreement to acquire the intellectual property for the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. Churchill Downs Incorporated previously purchased Calder Race Course in Miami and Arlington International Racecourse in Illinois before shuttering both tracks.

Abrams told WTOP not to expect anything in the near future, but he wouldn’t be surprised if 20 years from now the Preakness is moved to a track Churchill Downs owns in, say, Richmond, Virginia.

But let’s refocus on this year’s races.

Renegade is the favorite this year at 5-1 odds (as of Thursday morning), but they’ll be starting from the No. 1 post position — a spot that hasn’t yielded a Derby winner since Ferdinand in 1986.

“It’s obviously not good. When you have a field of 20, which is the only race in North America that has a field that large, when you go from the rail, you really run the risk of being boxed in by the field up against the fence,” Abrams said. “If anybody can figure out a way to work a trip out for him it’s Irad Ortiz Jr., but he’s got to balance between using enough energy to make sure he doesn’t get swarmed but saving enough energy for the end of the race.”

Legendary trainer Bob Baffert has seen six of his horses take the Derby, including Triple Crown winners American Pharaoh in 2015 and Justify in 2018. This year he has two, and Potente has drawn significant attention at around 26-1 odds.

“I think this horse has a real chance to win. His numbers have gotten better every time, he’s won after being up near the early lead and he’s won while being not near the early lead,” Abrams said. “The problem is because he’s going from the 14 in so much traffic, he just may not get the right trip. He may get bounced around.”

Also getting Barry’s eye are the horses starting from the No. 8 and 9 posts, So Happy (6-1) and The Puma (7-1).

“The Puma has danced a lot of dances and is very consistent,” Abrams said. “He won the Tampa Bay Derby and was competitive in his other starts in Florida against really good horses like Commandment.”

Meanwhile, So Happy gives hope to those who subscribe to the “bounce” pattern of a thoroughbred.

“This horse won the Santa Anita Derby going away, while the race before that, he didn’t run well. And two starts before, he did,” Abrams said. “Has he gotten that bounce out of the way and therefore is sitting on a big race?”

Regardless of which horse finishes first, the winning pick remains a straw boater hat, madras jacket, white pants and blue Sperry shoes for men, and a fascinator for the women — plus plenty of sunscreen.

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