Update: BootUP Ventures and Cuckoo's Nest Club Obtains 3.7 Million Dollar Judgment Against AlwaysOn
MENLO PARK, Calif., October 25, 2017 (Newswire.com) - The Cuckoo's Nest Club, a private social club located in Menlo Park, California, and BootUp Ventures, an accelerator for startups and corporate innovation provider, recently obtained a $3.7 million judgment in litigation against AlwaysOn, Inc., a company founded and controlled by its Chief Executive Officer Anthony Perkins. The case is Cuckoo's Nest Club, LLC and BootUp Ventures, LLC v. Anthony Perkins, et al., San Mateo County Superior Court Case No. 16CIV00301. BootUp Ventures and AlwaysOn were once co-owners and managers of Cuckoo's Nest Club, LLC, a limited liability company that owned and operated the Cuckoo's Nest Club.
The evidence submitted by the plaintiffs in support of the judgment they obtained proved that AlwaysOn received over $1.4 million in cash payments from members, sponsors and investors in Cuckoo’s Nest Club. AlwaysOn was required to transfer those funds to a bank account maintained by the Cuckoo’s Nest Club pursuant to an agreement between it and BootUp Ventures, yet AlwaysOn transferred only $345,965 of the funds it received to that account. The $1.1 million shortfall in revenue caused by Perkins and AlwaysOn crippled the operations of the club and rendered it unable to fund the remainder of its planned renovations as well as its operations, and pay over $490,000 in rent it owed to BootUp Ventures. The club was unable to survive the losses caused by AlwaysOn and Perkins, and it ceased operations in December 2016.
The court reached the correct result in entering a $3.7 million judgment against AlwaysOn. It's unfortunate that this had to be settled in the court of law. We continue to search for justice to avoid this happening to other people.
David Nemecek, The Fortress Law Firm
BootUp Ventures advised the court that it was discovered that Perkins and AlwaysOn were not complying with the agreement between the parties to transfer all payments it received from members, sponsors and investors in the Fall of 2015. Perkins initially apologized for failing to comply with the agreement and promised to rectify the situation, said the plaintiffs, but he never did so. Instead, BootUp told the court that AlwaysOn absconded with the funds, transferred a portion of those funds directly to Perkins' personal bank accounts, and eventually ceased its operations. AlwaysOn never responded to the complaint filed by the plaintiffs and Perkins allowed a default to be entered against the corporation rather than mount a defense for its actions. Perkins then dissolved AlwaysOn just days before the hearing on the plaintiffs' application for judgment against it.
The judgment that the court entered in favor of Cuckoo's Nest Club, LLC against AlwaysOn consists of $1,122,785 in losses suffered by the club that were caused by AlwaysOn's failure to transfer funds paid to it by members, sponsors and investors of the club, $1,443 in recoverable court costs and $2,000,000 in punitive damages. The judgment that the court entered in favor of BootUp Ventures against AlwaysOn consists of $490,500 in lost rent and $94,137 in attorney's fees.
"We are happy justice has been served, and the judgment entered by the court reflects that," said Marco ten Vaanholt, a co-founder of BootUp Ventures. "BootUp was forced to discontinue the club, but it continues to honor agreements it made with the club's many members and sponsors. We continue to repair our brand and regardless of this case we have been growing BootUP and our ecosystem at a phenomenal rate. We have had many accolades as the best workspace in the valley, our companies we accelerated were either sold or are now well-funded and we have been building a thriving leading set of industry accelerators. Our latest push continues to expand our serial entrepreneurial co-working and innovation event spaces and grow our incredible corporate strategy and innovation business globally. We now have a great growing set of brand name corporate clients globally that we are helping with innovation strategy, tech scouting, development and integration of startups. We are proud that this episode was only a small bump in the road of our fantastic business."
"The court reached the correct result in entering a $3.7 million judgment against AlwaysOn," said David Nemecek of The Fortress Law Firm, which serves as counsel for the plaintiffs. "It's unfortunate that this had to be settled in the court of law. We continue to search for justice to avoid this happening to other people."
Source: BootUP Ventures