A pair of Hollywood nightclub impresarios may close their Cuban-themed restaurant Paladar after losing a court case filed by former contractors and settling related suits adding up to $365,000.

Alan Nathan and Anton Posniak, who helped put Hollywood back on the map with their celebrity-attracting nightspots, have sold their nightclub Ivar and now the pair says they could be forced to shutter Paladar or place it into bankruptcy.

A Superior Court judge issued a judgment that Nathan and Posniak owe $190,000, including attorneys’ fees and interest, for work performed by contractor Kaufman Carrara Inc.

Nathan and Posniak also settled separate suits brought by Kaufman Carrara stemming from similar allegations of unpaid work totaling $175,000 at its Hollywood nightclubs Nacional and Ivar.

The sums could force the closure of Paladar, which Posniak said is only slightly more than breaking even. He said that Nacional, which is in the same building as Paladar, could be expanded to take the restaurant’s space.

“We might not have a choice,” he said. “We’re not sure yet but we have to do what is right for the businesses.”

Posniak said Paladar, which operates under Alante 2 LLC, has retained Mannatt Phelps & Phillips LLP to appeal the judgment. If they lose, he said, Alante 2 may have to file for bankruptcy protection, which would zero out the money doled out by investors.

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The full version of this story

is available in the April 18 edition of the Los Angeles Business Journal.