The judge in a lawsuit filed by Harry Strausser against Eastern Revenue and Kyle Shanahan, the company which purchased Strausser’s collection agency a year ago, has overruled six of the preliminary objections filed by the defendants, dismissed five of the counts from the original complaint, ruled four of the counts are moot, and denied a motion from the defendants to strike punitive damages. The ruling allows the case to move forward with most of the plaintiff’s core arguments in tact and allows the plaintiffs to pursue the full range of damages sought in the initial complaint.
Strausser filed the lawsuit back in April, alleging that the defendants failed to honor the terms of an agreement reached between the parties when he sold his collection agency — Remit Corp. — to Eastern Revenue. The original terms called for an earn-out of up to $420,000, to be paid out over a period of four years based on the percentage of gross commission revenues collected from Remit’s accounts that were transferred to the defendants, as well as consulting employment contracts for Strausser and Dwayne Heisler, a former vice president at Remit.
A copy of the court’s most recent ruling can be accessed by clicking here.
The ruling, issued last week by Judge David Grine, a senior judge for the Court of Common Pleas of Columbia County, Penn., was on preliminary objections filed by the defendant in response to the original complaint. The preliminary objections are filed by the defendant as a means of attempting to have the complaint dismissed and prevent the plaintiff from recovering any damages.
In the original complaint, the plaintiffs laid out 14 counts against the defendants, including breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, and unjust enrichment. In his ruling. Judge Grine overruled six of the objections, related to the counts of breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and unjust enrichment, allowing those counts to move forward. Judge Grine sustained objections to counts arguing fraudulent inducement, fraud in the inducement, aiding and abetting liability, and injunctive relief, and dismissed those five counts from the complaint.
The defendants now have 20 days to file their answer to the plaintiff’s complaint.
