VANDERPUMP Rules star Lisa Vanderpump and her husband, Ken Todd, have been accused of refusing to pay the $490K settlement by an ex-Pump employee, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.
The former employee, Ernest R. Bennick, sued Lisa, Ken, and Pump LLC in August 2020 for failure to pay overtime wages, failure to provide meal periods, failure to pay wages at termination, and violating labor codes among other charges.
Three years later, new court documents have claimed that the defendants have not paid any of the settlement money in the class action lawsuit.
According to docs exclusively obtained by The U.S. Sun, the plaintiff, on behalf of himself and other employees in a similar situation, filed a motion in August 2023 for preliminary approval of the gross settlement amount of $490,000.
This includes $171,500 of reasonable attorneys' fees and $7,500 service award for Ernest's "extensive efforts in prosecuting this case."
The gross amount is only a fourth of what the class counsel theorized the total to be $1,957,958.
The work hours accumulated amount to 14,246 from the period of August 6, 2016 to December 1, 2022.
On October 23, the defendants' attorney, on behalf of Ken, Lisa and Pump LLC, filed a response regarding the settlement agreement.
"The Company does not intend to perform the terms of the mediated settlement agreement, but would be willing to discuss alternatives with Plaintiff’s counsel," he stated.
In the response filing, the closing of Pump in July due to "on-going back rent and future rent issues with the restaurant’s landlord, coupled with the Covid-19 closure period and an overall downturn in business" was also brought up.
The attorney claimed that the restaurant's closure led to laying off all remaining employees and having "no assets remaining."
In addition, "the Company is working through and re-negotiating several hundred thousand dollars in unpaid rent and vendor invoices as part of the wind down process."
'ABOVE THE LAW'
The plaintiff fired back in a response filed on October 30, slamming multiple "false" and "self-serving" claims including that Pump has "no assets remaining."
"Defendants omit the fact that the restaurant re-opened in or around August 2023, at a new location," they rebut, referencing TMZ's article about the new PUMP restaurant opening a few doors down, right next to Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz's restaurant TomTom.
To be clear, PUMP's new location has yet to officially open.
The plaintiff also points out the fact that they have not laid off all remaining employees, given a "brazen and troublesome" interview Lisa conducted where she said: "The staff at PUMP will come over to the new version of PUMP. Many of these loyal employees have worked at PUMP for over a decade."
Furthermore, Ernest and the class members call out Ken for boasting about being a "multimillionaire individual" - with a reported net worth of $90 million - who can "clearly pay to fund the Settlement," but "they just don't want to."
They claimed: "Indeed, this is the third lawsuit brought against a restaurant owned by Todd and Vanderpump and it is not the first time that Todd attempts to ignore his legal duties (and even Court-issued Orders) in funding settlements.
"In fact, in another case...Todd was in violation of a Court Order for failing to fund the employer’s share of taxes and only finally funded them when sanctions were threatened by the Court."
THREATENING ANOTHER LAWSUIT
The former employee concluded: "While Todd may be a famous personality and television star, neither he nor anyone else is above the law.
"Yet Todd seems to, at times, think that he is above the law and can skirt his legal duties, violate Court Orders, or do as he pleases no matter who the victim of his legal failures."
At the moment, Ken, Lisa and Pump LLC have signed an enforceable Settlement Agreement to resolve this putative class action.
The plaintiffs mention, in conclusion, that defendants’ refusal to pay the $490K will result in legal ramifications, including a motion for enforcement, an action for enforcement, an action for fraudulent inducement by Ken, and potential sanctions.
There has been no trial date set at the moment, if the case does go to trial. However, the next hearing regarding the settlement status is supposed to take place on November 3.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Ken and Lisa's attorney for comment.
NOT BOTHERED
Amid the class action lawsuit, Ken and Lisa are carrying on business as usual.
The VPR star announced on November 2 that she will be opening her third venue on the Las Vegas strip, Pinky's by Vanderpump, in summer 2024.
This comes after the success of the other Vegas restaurants: Vanderpump à Paris and Vanderpump Cocktail Garden.
Her new California restaurant, Wolf by Vanderpump, which will be located in Lake Tahoe, is expected to open this winter.
