Rick Owens is changing course in a lawsuit accusing the company of trying to force out an early investor and has, for now, withdrawn a demand that the case be dismissed.
The brand, through its affiliates FiftyFifty Inc. and Owenscorp LLC, on Thursday asked a New York court to ignore its January push to toss out Barbara Mariani’s claims that she’s being squeezed out of her 10 percent stake in Rick Owens, which she purportedly worked to grow and establish in Paris and London over the last decade.
A Rick Owens spokeswoman said the withdrawal is due to changes Mariani has made to her initial January complaint, but it intends to again push for dismissal.
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Representatives for Mariani could not be reached immediately for comment.
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Rick Owens filed its dismissal motion in January, citing the New York court’s lack of jurisdiction in a legal matter that it claimed had no legitimate ties to the city, but Mariani earlier this month amended her complaint to do away with that argument.
The dispute circles around a $700,000 loan made by Rick Owens to another leg of the brand, Creature Development Ltd., which holds Mariani’s investment shares and operates a retail store in London.
While Rick Owens had argued that Creature Development is organized in the U.K., leaving it subject to laws of England and Wales, Mariani said in her amended complaint that the loan was executed in New York and “specifically call[s] for the application of New York law.”
She also pointed out that Creature Development is not a party to the litigation, while Owenscorp and FiftyFifty are and both are New York entities. Mariani added that Elsa Lanzo, creative director of Rick Owens Group and the brands’ Italian business partner who is also a registered director of Creature Development, regularly travels to New York.
Outside of the jurisdictional arguments, Mariani’s allegations are essentially the same.
She is accusing the brand of tortious interference with business relations and breach of fiduciary duty through its demand of immediate repayment of the “self-dealing” $700,000 loan by way of her Creature Development shares, which she gained through a 2005 investment in the brand of 18,000 euros.
Mariani also claims to have been unaware of loan and questions its legitimacy and even its existence.