Good News is currently the subject of a legal battle between its majority owner Ality Richardson and the married couple who originally created the concept, Kaylee and Crystal Clark. The once-celebrated partnership that promised a welcoming, inclusive, zero-proof space for connection and recovery has collapsed into vicious accusations of broken promises, fiduciary betrayal, hostile takeover, fraudulent inducement, and deliberate reputational sabotage, all playing out in San Diego Superior Court under case number 25CU045454C.
The Clarks were the public face and creative heart of Good News for years before it ever opened its doors. The bar’s name, aesthetic, messaging, and even its public statements were heavily influenced by the late rapper Mac Miller, whose music, philosophy, and reflections on addiction, recovery, and self-awareness were repeatedly referenced by the founders as a spiritual and emotional backbone of the concept. Quotes attributed to Miller appeared on Good News’ website and social media during its launch period, framing the bar as not just alcohol-free, but deeply introspective and recovery-centered. His images and records line the bar's walls.
The Clarks were the public face and creative heart of Good News for years before it ever opened its doors. The bar’s name, aesthetic, messaging, and even its public statements were heavily influenced by the late rapper Mac Miller, whose music, philosophy, and reflections on addiction, recovery, and self-awareness were repeatedly referenced by the founders as a spiritual and emotional backbone of the concept. Quotes attributed to Miller appeared on Good News’ website and social media during its launch period, framing the bar as not just alcohol-free, but deeply introspective and recovery-centered. His images and records line the bar's walls.
According to the lawsuit, they built the brand from scratch starting in late 2022, growing a large and devoted following through constant social media storytelling. They shared their own sobriety journeys openly and positioned the project as a groundbreaking alternative to San Diego’s booze-heavy nightlife scene. When they ran out of money to actually open the physical location, Ality Richardson, a local entrepreneur, founder of Ality Designs, and fellow member of the recovery community, reportedly stepped in with the necessary capital.
In exchange, Richardson received a controlling 51% membership interest in Good News Bar LLC, leaving the Clarks with a combined 49%. According to the Clarks’ cross-complaint, Richardson repeatedly promised them they would run day-to-day operations and each receive a $60,000 annual salary, which were the assurances that convinced them to accept her majority stake and sign the operating agreement in April 2024. That arrangement lasted less than one month after the bar opened.
On August 18, 2025, the Clarks say they were summoned to a meeting with Richardson and her attorney. The next day they were informed their services were no longer needed and they were terminated effective immediately. The bar then closed temporarily. The Clarks claim Richardson used a disagreement about her plan to sell Ality Designs apparel inside the bar (which they say violated the lease and the entire concept) as a pretext to seize full control.
In exchange, Richardson received a controlling 51% membership interest in Good News Bar LLC, leaving the Clarks with a combined 49%. According to the Clarks’ cross-complaint, Richardson repeatedly promised them they would run day-to-day operations and each receive a $60,000 annual salary, which were the assurances that convinced them to accept her majority stake and sign the operating agreement in April 2024. That arrangement lasted less than one month after the bar opened.
On August 18, 2025, the Clarks say they were summoned to a meeting with Richardson and her attorney. The next day they were informed their services were no longer needed and they were terminated effective immediately. The bar then closed temporarily. The Clarks claim Richardson used a disagreement about her plan to sell Ality Designs apparel inside the bar (which they say violated the lease and the entire concept) as a pretext to seize full control.
Richardson’s lawsuit, filed August 27, 2025, tells a very different story. She accuses the Clarks of launching a deliberate campaign to wrest control away from her, wrongfully seizing the bar’s social media accounts, using those accounts to publish negative and derogatory statements about her, attempting to interfere with vendor relationships, and trying to cancel orders, all while still holding a substantial minority stake. She is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief to regain control of the digital assets and stop what she calls malicious, oppressive conduct.
The Clarks fired back with their own cross-complaint on October 24, 2025. They accuse Richardson of fraud (making promises she never intended to keep), breach of the operating agreement’s implied covenant of good faith, and multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, both directly against them and derivatively against the LLC itself. They allege Richardson has withheld financial records, concealed material disputes with the landlord (on whose lease the Clarks remain personal guarantors), and is now using the bar’s premises to sell her personal clothing line in violation of the lease and her duties to the company.
The Clarks fired back with their own cross-complaint on October 24, 2025. They accuse Richardson of fraud (making promises she never intended to keep), breach of the operating agreement’s implied covenant of good faith, and multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, both directly against them and derivatively against the LLC itself. They allege Richardson has withheld financial records, concealed material disputes with the landlord (on whose lease the Clarks remain personal guarantors), and is now using the bar’s premises to sell her personal clothing line in violation of the lease and her duties to the company.
The legal filings are only the formal tip of a very public and emotional iceberg. After their removal, the Clarks retained control of the original Good News Instagram for a period and used it to share their side of the story before it was renamed (to @goodvibes.sd). An allegedly supporter-created “justice” Instagram account launched a short-lived boycott campaign. The Clarks started a GoFundMe to help cover their sudden financial hardship. Richardson created a new official bar Instagram account, issued an apology for the abrupt transition, and has kept the venue open under her direct oversight ever since.
The case remains active in Department C-66 before Judge Wendy M. Behan. The most recent activity in the court register shows both sides filed case management statements in mid-January 2026, and a case management conference is scheduled for January 30, 2026.
What makes this more than just another business divorce is the context: Good News was supposed to be different. It was marketed, and genuinely believed by many, as a safe, uplifting, community-first space created by people in recovery for people in recovery (and everyone else who wants to socialize without alcohol). Instead, barely six months after opening, it has become a cautionary tale about trust, power, money, and what happens when the people who dreamed up the mission are no longer the ones steering the ship.
For now, the bar continues to operate in Hillcrest under Richardson’s leadership. Whether it can ever recapture the original spirit that made it special, or whether the damage from this very public implosion proves permanent, remains one of the most closely watched questions in San Diego’s hospitality scene.
Good News Bar is located at 3821 Park Boulevard in San Diego's Hillcrest. For more information, visit goodnewsbarsd.com.
Originally published on January 23, 2026.
