Photo Finish

When we last heard from Mitchell Cutler and David Muston, the two South Bay businessmen—Cutler owns La Fondue in Saratoga, while Muston owns Los Gatos Camera—were headed to court after a bizarre (and bitter) dispute about Cutler’s family photographs that Muston refused to print. The camera-store owner, who describes himself as a liberal with a capital “L,” claimed that Cutler’s pictures included representations of “Zionist terrorists” from early in the 20th century, information that Muston said both he and his store clerk got from conversations with Cutler himself. Cutler countered that he never said anything about Zionism or terrorism to anybody at Los Gatos Camera and insisted that Muston was discriminating against him because of his Jewish ancestry. With neither man backing down, the table was set for a juicy South Bay lawsuit. In this case, however, anticipation didn’t meet reality. A Santa Clara County judge heard the trial and ruled in Cutler’s favor—but there was no back-and-forth argument to speak of. Muston, who was representing himself, walked out of the trial when told he couldn’t also represent his business, Los Gatos Camera. Rather than cancel the trial, the judge heard 2 and 1/2 hours of Cutler’s side of the story. “He [Muston] tried to get it postponed,” says an elated, but bewildered Cutler. “The judge said no, this is going to trial in 15 minutes. [He] left the courtroom right away.” Cutler’s winning decision came through last Friday, and now word in Los Gatos is that Muston is closing his camera store. He claims the closure is unrelated to the trial (which he plans to appeal), but reflects the realities of the camera business in the digital age. “I think he’s gone about this all wrong,” Cutler tells us. “I would not have wanted this for him, but if he wants to stay in denial and continue to attack not just me and my attorney and offer his Jewish conspiracy theories, this is what’s going to come his way. I don’t feel sorry for him; I think he’s a big boy. He’s an adult who can make his decisions—so far his decisions have been the wrong ones.”