Last edited 4:30 p.m., April 15, 2014Larry Ellison, a former 17-year employee with KPM CPAs PC, filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against shareholders of the Springfield accounting firm. The suit claims Ellison faced age discrimination at the company, prompting him to leave in July.
The case, which was filed in Greene County Circuit Court, is against BTC Partnership LLP, whose partners consist of KPM shareholders.
In the case, Ellison is asking to be paid for his ownership share in BTC, plus $500,000 in punitive damages – or the lesser of five times his actual damages – to deter the company from similar conduct in the future.
In a phone interview this morning, Ellison said he and current business partner Brooke Liggett have each filed discrimination claims against KPM CPAs with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights. Ellison’s claims relate to age discrimination, while Liggett’s relate to gender discrimination, he said.
He referred specific questions about his experiences to his attorney in the case, Randy Scheer of Sanders Warren & Russell LLP, who could not be reached for comment by deadline.
Ellison and Liggett together launched
EllisonLiggett Litigation Consultants – a certified public accounting firm geared toward business valuation and litigation services – on Aug. 1. Liggett, a manager at KPM, worked for the company 11 years.
“At this point, the litigation only relates to the building partnership,” Ellison said. “There are three building assets included in that partnership, but the CPA firm itself is not included in the litigation.”
Ellison said Scheer would need to speak to whether a separate discrimination case would be filed against KPM or shareholders.
Crystal Mapp, marketing director of KPM, said she would pass along a request for an interview to one of the managing shareholders of the company, but no interview occurred or was set by deadline.
According to the case filing, plaintiff Ellison said he was the oldest shareholder employee when he left the firm on July 31. In mid-December, Ellison notified BTC in writing of his intent to withdraw as partner based on the discrimination he experienced.
“The pattern and practice of discrimination and/or retaliation against plaintiff by the shareholders at KPM, who are also partners in BTC, continues to this day in that the manner in which they are treating plaintiff’s withdrawal from BTC has been vastly different from the way they treated younger partners who left BTC and/or all other partners who have left BTC,” according to the allegations in the case.
Based on a Nov. 19 appraisal of BTC’s physical assets, the case claims Ellison should have been paid on or before Feb. 17 based on the shareholder’s agreement, but he has yet to be paid, according to court filings.
In the suit, Ellison alleges BTC determined Ellison’s interest in the company was $150,354 at the time he left KPM.
According to online court records, there are no scheduled hearings in the case.[[In-content Ad]]
