A business owner is suing the company he struck a deal with because he isn’t being paid what he expected.
Raymond P. Bass filed a lawsuit April 16 in the Jefferson County District Court against Salco Products Inc. and Salco employees Brian Putnam, Dave Oestermeyer, Alex Degutis, Josh Chesser and Scott Swanson, citing breach of contract, fraud, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit states Bass was the sole owner of Hazarsolve Corp., which manufactured petrochemical support equipment.
Salco approached Bass in 2003, the suit states, with interest in distributing some of his products on a nationwide basis. A deal was negotiated to merge Hazarsolve’s product line into Salco while providing Bass with annual employment and lifetime royalties for his products, the complaint states.
Hazarsolve became a division of Salco on Nov. 15, 2003, and Bass became an employee May 20, 2004.
According to the suit, Bass became concerned regarding his commissions and his rights and interests in certain inventions and patents, and he began negotiating new contracts. The complaint states during these negotiations April 18, 2012, Salco sent Bass notifications terminating his manufacturer’s representative agreement and his employment effective immediately without explanation.
Bass hasn’t received any payments since, the complaint said.
Bass is seeking damages to cover actual damages including out-of-pocket damages, commissions, royalties, benefit of the bargain damages, lost profits and other economic damages, damages for emotional distress, pre and post judgment interest and court costs.
Bass is being represented by M.C. Carrington of MehaffyWeber PC in Beaumont.
Jefferson County District Court Case No. D195-614
This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Jefferson County District Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note that a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it represents only one side of the story.