A judge has ruled that Miss Lizzie's Coffee can keep operating under its own name and blood-splattered hatchet logo despite a trademark lawsuit from the owners of the Lizzie Borden House, though the coffee shop now owes more than $31,000 in legal fees as a result of the case. The ruling closes out one chapter of a yearslong legal battle between the two Fall River businesses tied to one of America's most notorious unsolved crimes.
According to WJAR, US Ghost Adventures, which owns the Lizzie Borden House on Second Street, sued Miss Lizzie's Coffee in 2023, arguing that the shop's name and imagery could confuse customers into thinking the two businesses were related. The judge this month ordered Miss Lizzie's Coffee to pay the Lizzie Borden House more than $31,000 in legal fees, but allowed the coffee shop to remain open under its existing name and logo. The coffee shop has since moved to a different location in Fall River.
This month's decision follows an earlier and consequential round in the same fight. In November 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a federal district court's denial of a preliminary injunction against Miss Lizzie's Coffee, finding that the shop's name and hatchet logo referenced the historical figure of Lizzie Borden rather than infringing on the bed-and-breakfast's trademark, according to CBS News. The appellate court found the two businesses served distinct markets with a low risk of consumer confusion.
Judges Invoke the Infamous Rhyme
Writing for the First Circuit panel, the judges leaned into local lore, noting that US Ghost Adventures gave “just short of forty whacks” to the district court's factual findings on consumer confusion — a wink at the nursery rhyme born from the 1892 double murder, per the same CBS News report. During the dispute, Miss Lizzie's Coffee had posted a sign on its storefront door stating it was “NOT ASSOCIATED, NOR AFFILIATED in any way with the Lizzie Borden House,” a measure the shop used to counter claims that customers were being misled.
The property at 230 Second Street is the site of the unsolved August 4, 1892 hatchet murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, which led to the arrest and June 1893 acquittal of Andrew's daughter, Lizzie Borden — one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in American history, the outlet notes. Opened in 2023 directly next door to the historic site, Miss Lizzie's Coffee marketed itself as “The Most Haunted Coffee Shop in the World,” pairing a coffee cup with the stylized, blood-splattered hatchet that became the center of the trademark fight, according to the Fall River Reporter.
A Business Under Pressure From Multiple Directions
The coffee shop's relocation from its original Second Street storefront wasn't actually tied to the trademark case. The same outlet reports that Miss Lizzie's Coffee was forced out after its landlord, 1301 Fall River Holdings LLC, began eviction proceedings in early 2026 over more than $10,000 in unpaid rent, culminating in a May 2026 execution of possession.
Owner Joseph Pereira has also faced a separate and far costlier legal blow. In a lawsuit filed in November 2024 over online and media statements, US Ghost Adventures won a default judgment in September 2026 after Pereira failed to respond in court, leaving him on the hook for more than $160,000 in damages and legal fees, the Fall River Reporter's reporting shows.
The History Behind the Haunted Address
US Ghost Adventures, founded by Marine Corps veteran Lance Zaal, purchased the Lizzie Borden House — also known as the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast — in 2021 for roughly $1.8 million to $2 million, according to WBSM. The company, which runs ghost tours and historic properties in dozens of U.S. cities, has since put more than $250,000 into restoring the property, including matching exterior paint to original 1892 paint flakes, installing a replica fence, recreating the 1892 sitting-room crime scene, and adding a memorial garden honoring Andrew and Abby Borden, per US Ghost Adventures.
Before the 2021 sale, the Lizzie Borden House had operated as a commercial museum and bed-and-breakfast since 1996, with Donald Woods and Leann Wilbur owning and operating it for 17 years, according to Frommer's Travel Guides. More than 130 years after the killings, the property on Second Street remains one of Fall River's most recognizable tourist draws — and, as this latest ruling shows, a continued source of legal friction for the businesses that trade on its name.
