Kitson founder sues former CEO

Los Angeles - It seems that Fraser Ross is still figuring out what caused the demise of his Kitson chain of boutiques. The company announced late last year that it would be shuttering all of its stores and closing down its business, but the aftermath of it all is still in process. Recently, Ross has filed a lawsuit against Chris Lee, former business partner of Kitson, for allegedly defrauding the company.

The lawsuit was filed August 9 by attorney Jeremy D. Smith of Krane & Smith. Chris Lee served formally as the company’s chief executive officer. His role in the company was to turn Kitson into an international brand and help grow the business. He was hired on by Ross in 2011 and worked at Kitson up until 2015. In this newest lawsuit, Ross claims that Lee pushed to get Ross out of his business, according to reports by Apparel News. The new suit including demanding a jury trial in the case of Lee and alleges “fraud, unfair competition under California law and unjust enrichment in addition to three other causes,” according to WWD.

The lawsuit takes place after Ross had already filed a suit against his former law firm, Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP in July. The lawsuit demanded “a jury trial with an award estimated to be more than 120 million [dollars] before punitive damages are factored in,” Ross’ Canadian counsel Glenn J. Feldman told WWD of the case. The 120 million dollars requested as the estimated value of Kitson before 2011. As the new lawsuit was just filed, it’ll be a while before we see the outcome of this legal battle.