a former senior executive better website Voluntarily dismissing a lawsuit filed nearly two years ago against the company and its leadership, including founder Vishal Garg, which alleged the defendants violated labor and securities laws while pursuing the company’s goal of taking the company public.
On April 22, attorneys for Sarah Pierce, Better’s former executive vice president of customer experience, sales and operations, and the defendants filed a voluntary severance agreement with prejudice in U.S. District Court in New York.reply house linerequest for comment.
A spokesperson for Better said the company had no comment other than that it was “pleased that the case has been resolved.”
Pierce files suit better holding company, Garg and General Counsel Nicholas Calamari filed multiple charges on June 8, 2022, including labor law violations, defamation and breach of fiduciary duty. She is seeking about $200 million in damages.
Pierce, who started working at Better.com in September 2020 and reported directly to Garg, claims the company’s founder misled investors by claiming Better would be profitable by the end of the first quarter of 2022, which he knew was not possible.
The company also led investors to believe that 30% of its direct-to-consumer loans in 2020 came from web traffic converted by unpaid marketing efforts, when the correct ratio was 12%.
Pierce claimed she faced retaliation when the executive blamed her for the company’s deteriorating financial condition, placed her on unjust administrative leave and turned off access to her computer and email, according to the lawsuit. Pierce’s employment ends in February 2022.
In late September 2023, Supreme Court Justice Analisa Torres U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Grant Better.com, Garg and Calamari’s motion to dismiss most of Pierce’s claims.
But Torres also upheld charges related to New York Labor Code Section 740 retaliation and defamation claims under the superior-response theory. Additionally, Garg’s motion to dismiss Pierce’s defamation claims was denied.
August 2023, Aurora Acquisition Corporation — a special purpose acquisition company working to take Better public — said Securities and Exchange Commission (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) ended an investigation into the companies stemming from Pierce’s lawsuit. No enforcement action was taken.
It would be best to go public in a deal with Aurora a month later.
In a separate lawsuit involving Pierce and Bate, Torres decided that the former executive must repay Bate a loan that, under the terms of the agreement, totaled approximately $2.7 million, including interest.
This is because the parties entered into two partial recourse promissory notes, in which Better loaned $2.27 million to be repaid with 51% recourse. The earliest expiration date is 120 days after termination of employment.
