Executive Awarded $1.26M for Breach of Employment Contract

Breach of Employment Contract

An El Paso County jury has awarded the former COO and President of a Colorado Springs-based physical therapy training company $1.26 million, agreeing that the company had breached its employment contract with the executive and that the founder breached his promise to give one-third of the company to the executive.

At trial, testimony revealed that less than three months after entering into the employment agreement, but before the documents transferring the executive one-third of the company were completed, on the cusp of realizing the deal in China, the company terminated the executive without cause, in violation of the contract’s terms, said his attorney, Michael Ogborn of the Denver-based law firm Ogborn Mihm.

Witnesses testified and the evidence showed the company owners had developed personal animosity toward the executive near the end of his employment. According to the evidence, the cause was that the executive had disciplined and eventually terminated the owners’ son, who worked at the company, said Clayton Wire, an Ogborn Mihm partner and member of the courtroom trial team.

The jury awarded a total of $1,260,070 for claims of breach of contract, conversion, intentional interference, and one-third of the value of the company.