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Joele Frank is working with Barnes & Noble in the bookseller’s nasty squabble with former CEO Demos Parneros, who was fired in July after 15 months at the helm.
The ousted CEO fired back at B&N by filing a federal suit in Manhattan on Aug. 28, charging the bookseller breached his employment contract by denying severance and claiming misconduct, which Parneros denies.
The suit contends that Paneros, who joined B&N in April 2017, was making progress at improving the company's perfromance and was canned because a deal to sell B&N fell through.
New York-based B&N released a Aug. 28 response to Parneros’ suit, saying it is nothing more than “an attempt to extort money from the company by a CEO who was terminated for sexual harassment, bullying behavior and other violations of company policies after being in the role for approximately one year.”
It also says Parneros’ charge that B&N founder Leonard Reggio is “volatile and out of control” is “replete with lies and mischaracterizations.”
B&N suffered a $125.5M loss for fiscal 2018 (ended April 28) compared to a year earlier profit of $22M. Revenues for fiscal 2018 dipped six percent to $3.6B. Fiscal 2019 first-quarter financials will be released Sept. 6.
Joele Frank, Wilkinson, Brimmer Katcher has Kelly Sullivan, Jamie Moser and Tanner Kaufman working on the legal battle.
They are assisting B-N’s Mary Ellen Keating (senior VP-corporate communications) and Andy Milevoj (VP-investor relations & corporate finance) in the Parneros matter.
Delaware Senators Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt Rochester have filed an ethics complaint against Judge Jennifer Mascott charging that she ran DC PA firm Adfero after she was confirmed to the federal post.
Chambers and Partners places Reevemark, Brunswick Group, FGS Global, TLG Communications and Trident GMG as top tier PR firms for both crisis & risk management and litigation support in its recently released 2026 rankings.
To shape public opinion about corporate legal cases, communicators need to be prepared from the filing forward, according to a new study from H/Advisors Abernathy.
Longacre Square Partners has formalized its litigation & complex disputes practice under COO Rebecca Kral.
Vision Americas International has filed a $1.3M contract to provide communications and PA support to Vinson & Elkins to backstop its legal work on behalf of the ad hoc board of Petroleos de Venezuela, the US recognized representative of the state-owned energy giant.
