As Borders winds down business this week, it is contending with final bits of business in federal bankruptcy court. Late last week the company sought permission to pay $125,000 each in severance to former ceo Mike Edwards, former cfo Scott Henry, current evp of store operations (and acting cfo) Jim Frering and head of human resources Rosalind Thompson. Ten other executives already qualify for $125,000 severance payments, according to the filing. Both Edwards and Henry were “voluntarily terminated” on July 29 but Borders said in its motion that the two “continue to work actively on a non-compensated basis to assure […]
Legal
Former Employee Sues Borders Over Layoff Procedure, and More Bookstore News
On the heels of Borders suing marketing firm Next Jump over trademark infringement now Borders is a defendant in a new complaint related to the company’s layoff procedures post-litigation. Former employee Jared Pinsker, who worked in Borders’ Ann Arbor headquarters, said in a suit filed last Friday in federal bankruptcy court that Borders did not adequately give employees notice when they were let go between July 23 and August 23. Not doing so, per the complaint, violates the WARN Act, which requires employers to give 60 days notice before conducting layoffs of at least 33 percent of a company’s work […]
Gail Kump Sues Eric Kampmann, Charging “Self-Dealing” And Seeking Dissolution of Midpoint Trade Books
Midpoint Trade Books co-founder Gail Kump filed suit on Wednesday against Midpoint ceo Eric Kampmann and Midpoint director and minority shareholder Christopher Bell in New York Supreme Court, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and other corporation law violations. Kump’s corporation Lily K. Inc. owns 24 percent of Midpoint’s shares, as does Bell. Kampmann & Co., also named in the suit, own 52 percent of the company. The suit charges that Kampmann “has engaged in a pattern of self-dealing, impropriety and malfeasance during the last six years that has damaged Midpoint.” It charges the Kampmann “stopped signing new […]
Borders Sues Vendor For Allegedly Steering Borders Rewards Customers To Separate Website
As Borders prepares to auction off what it hopes will prove to be valuable intellectual property, including its Borders Rewards customer data, the company has gone to court to protect those assets from infringement by a former Borders vendor. The complaint filed in New York bankruptcy court charges that Next Jump, the company hired in 2007 to operate Bordersrewardperks.com–a website to provide rewards from third-party vendors to Borders customers–has used its access to the book chain’s customer list to steer half a million people or more to a separate website, OO.com, owned by Next Jump. Significantly given the upcoming auction, Borders says […]
BAMM Gets OK To Take Over Borders Store Leases; Promotes Finley To President & COO
On Monday afternoon in federal bankruptcy court Judge Martin Glenn gave his approval for Books-A-Million to take over 14 of Borders’ store leases by September 20 after some objections, mostly to do with how much money BAMM must pay landlords, were worked out. “I’m glad that everyone was able to work out the objections,” Judge Glenn said, according to a report from Dow Jones. Books-A-Million also announced that Terrance Finley had been promoted to president and coo of the company, replacing Clyde Anderson, who relinquished the role (though he remains ceo and chairman.) Finley was previously EVP & chief merchandising […]
Mortenson Case Back On Air, and In the News
The controversy over alleged misrepresentations in Greg Mortenson’s books is back in the news for a number of reasons. Sunday night 60 Minutes rebroadcast the April episode that first presented the case against Mortenson (and launched Jon Krakauer’s ebook on the topic, THREE CUPS OF DECEIT, without acknowledging that Krakauer’s research and manuscript were driving the investigation). The charity Mortenson founded, the Central Asia Institute, finally made it clear that its legal advice rather than medical counsel which is keeping Mortenson from responding: “Greg Mortenson is recovering from his open-heart surgery and making good progress with cardiac rehabilitation. On advice […]