Former Photizo Group Employees Sue Photizo, Crowley, Virtulix for Unpaid Wages
Wirth Consulting has received court papers indicating that several Photizo Group employees are suing Photizo Inc.; the newly formed Virtulytix, Inc.; Photizo founder Ed Crowley; Meritus Ventures: and L. Ray Moncrief for unpaid wages.
The former employees – six in total – are suing for a combined amount of approximately $301,190 in the Fayette Circuit Court in Kentucky.
In the lawsuit, the former employees allege that the defendants failed to pay them the wages owed them, and that failure to pay those wages was “willful in that the defendants formulated and executed a plan to transfer all assets of Photizo to defendant Virtulytix” leaving all payroll liabilities with “the now defunct corporation Photizo.” The lawsuit also states that the defendants admitted the unpaid wages in a letter sent to the plaintiffs in August 2017, and also admitted violations of the Kentucky Wage and Hour Act through their payment of a fine assessed for unpaid wage by the Kentucky Labor Cabinet.
The former employees are seeking the unpaid wages, court costs, attorneys’ fees, and punitive damages.
Back in August 2017, Photizo Group’s assets were repossessed by primary secured creditor Meritus Ventures, a U.S.-based venture-capital firm that Photizo of Lexington, Kentucky, owed over $4 million in loans to. In August 2017, Virtulytix – which is described as an “advanced analytics firm” also based in Lexington, Kentucky, and staffed by several former Photizo employees – announced that it had acquired Photizo.
On August 16, 2017, the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Labor Cabinet filed a complaint in the Fayette Circuit Court on behalf of employees with unpaid salaries and wages.
Pending litigation against Photizo also includes a lawsuit filed by Lyra Research. Photizo acquired U.S.-based Lyra Research In 2012; Lyra Researcher published the well-known Hardcopy Observer, which covered the print and digital-imaging industry. Overall, the owners of Lyra Research are said to be set to lose $1.3 million under the Mertius deal.
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