The luxury department store sued the shopping center and its owner, Matthew Whitman Lazenby, for trying to “publicly shame Saks” tied to an August dispute over rent.

“Defendants initiated a malicious public smear campaign designed for no purpose other than to exact revenge on a tenant who justifiably stood up to the unjustified demands of an unreasonable landlord,” the Saks complaint says.

Bal Harbor Shops’s August lawsuit claims that Saks owes $1.9 million for rent in January, February and March, and a percentage of sales for the first quarter of 2020.

Saks countered that disclosing confidential information about its rent, including the $1.9 million along with statements about the retailer’s “impressive post-COVID-19 sales at Bal Harobor, amounts to a breach of contract.

“Saks is one of about 110 tenants here,” Lazenby told WWD. Only a handful have taken a very firm position — not paying anything at all. Unfortunately, Saks took that position.”

Saks has been a tenant at Bal Harbor Shops since 1976.