FARMVILLE — Tenth Judicial Circuit Court Chief Judge Leslie M. Osborn has designated Judge Joel C. Cunningham to preside over a landlord-tenant dispute. Charleys Waterfront Café, Inc. is suing its landlord — furniture merchant Richard F. “Dickie” Cralle Jr. — for $18 million, alleging that plans for a competing restaurant violate their contract, records show.

Charleys Waterfront Café, Inc., which filed the suit July 16 against Cralle, The Fat Frogg, LLC, of Elon, N.C., and North Carolina businessman Jeffrey D. MacKenzie, also seeks a temporary and permanent injunction prohibiting the new restaurant from opening.

Charleys has operated for the past 15 years in a renovated warehouse owned by Cralle in downtown Farmville.

The lawsuit filed in Prince Edward County Circuit Court represents one side of a legal argument. Cralle and other defendants had not filed their response as of Wednesday afternoon.

Circuit Court Judge Kimberly S. White, according to court papers, had previously recused herself.