Bar Vegan, under the ownership of celebrity restaurateur Pinky Cole and her businesses, has reportedly failed to make a settlement payment agreed upon months ago to resolve a lawsuit concerning unpaid wages, according to plaintiffs in the case who spoke to a federal judge on Wednesday.
However, Cole contended in court that although she was named as a defendant due to her role as CEO of Slutty Vegan at the time, she did not own Bar Vegan and was not operating the restaurant located at Ponce City Market.
In a recent twist, Cole announced that she briefly lost control of her Slutty Vegan brand following a corporate restructuring earlier this year but has since reacquired her dining empire.
Bar Vegan LLC was owned by Slutty Vegan Inc., which is currently being overseen by an administrator, according to a statement released by Cole’s representative to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Cole is in the process of moving to repurchase the company under a new entity, planning to acquire key assets and relaunch the brand as Slutty Vegan 2.0.
Despite her efforts, she is no longer associated with Slutty Vegan Inc. at this time, the representative clarified.
The settlement concerning Bar Vegan originated from a 2022 lawsuit filed by former employee Morgan Georgia, who accused the restaurant, along with Cole and two of her business partners, Aaron Mattison and Jason Crain, of withholding tips, failing to pay overtime, and not meeting federal minimum wage requirements at their Ponce City Market location.
Cole and her co-defendants denied these allegations.
The lawsuit eventually evolved into a class action, involving multiple servers and bartenders from Bar Vegan.
Eventually, an agreement to settle the case was reached and approved by federal District Court Judge J.P. Boulee in December of the previous year.
Cole and the other defendants agreed to pay a total of $62,172 to the plaintiffs as compensation for alleged damages, along with $32,828 to cover attorney’s fees, as per the settlement documents filed with the court.
Cole’s representative emphasized that while she was personally named in the lawsuit, she has no personal ownership or financial interest in Bar Vegan LLC.
They clarified that the entity is owned by Slutty Vegan Inc., meaning any liabilities linked to Bar Vegan would fall under the corporate structure of that company.
The attorney representing the Bar Vegan employees, Travis Foust, expressed concerns over the difficulties in obtaining the payment.
“I’m concerned about the ability to collect upon the settlement,” Foust conveyed to the judge during a status hearing held on Wednesday.
He further detailed that after the settlement agreement was signed and the former employees submitted the necessary paperwork to claim their portion of the funds, Bar Vegan’s lawyers informed him that the settlement would require financing, which meant payment would be delayed until the financing was secured.
“Since being informed of that, I’ve reached out, have asked for updates, and I just don’t think my opposing counsel are able to provide that from their client right now,” Foust remarked.
He indicated his intention to file a motion for the judge to enforce the settlement and compel the defendants to cover additional legal fees for the plaintiffs.
Foust also reported that Bar Vegan’s attorneys had indicated they were attempting to withdraw from the case, raising concerns that the defendants’ legal representation had not been compensated.
While he expressed sympathy towards attorneys facing non-payment, he affirmed his opposition to their motion to cease representation for Cole and the other defendants.
One of the lawyers representing the defendants, John Litchfield, did not dispute Foust’s account of the situation, stating that what Foust described was “largely accurate.”
Litchfield explained to the judge that when the settlement was established, Cole and her co-defendants were actively seeking funding to fulfill the payment obligations.
However, at some point, Litchfield discovered that no funding had materialized.
To complicate matters further, he learned that Slutty Vegan had recently entered insolvency proceedings.
“At this point, we don’t have a clear understanding of exactly what the process will be for funding the settlement,” Litchfield informed the judge.
He also expressed his plans to file a motion seeking to withdraw as counsel for the defendants.
Judge Boulee acknowledged that he was “loath” to allow corporate defendants to exit a case without a replacement counsel already in place.
Litchfield declined to comment on why he and his colleagues are seeking to withdraw from the case.
The decision to fund the settlement initially lied with the former board of Slutty Vegan Inc., according to a representative for Cole who spoke to the AJC.
At that time, Cole held the position of CEO and was a member of the board.
However, in February, the company entered into an alternative process to bankruptcy that occurred prior to payment being rendered for the settlement.
The board of Slutty Vegan was dissolved, and an estate administrator assumed control of the company and its assets, the representative stated.
Cole confirmed this to the judge, explaining that upon the resolution of that matter, everyone on the board volunteered to resign.
“I was no longer the CEO and no longer on the board; the estate handled all correspondence moving forward,” she noted.
“I did not know that I was required to communicate on behalf of the company, as I was released from all of my responsibilities as CEO and owner of Slutty Vegan, Inc.”
The timeline regarding when or if the settlement will be honored remains uncertain.
Judge Boulee instructed his law clerk to prioritize this case once the motions and replies are filed, acknowledging that it appears to have lagged significantly.
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