AUBURN — The city’s mayor reached a settlement with the owners of his former company whom he sued earlier this year claiming they had broken their contract with him to stay on as an employee.
Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque has settled a lawsuit he brought against the owners of his former company. (Sun Journal file photo)
In a statement released Wednesday, the law firm representing ITC Argo said the confidential agreement “avoids future misunderstandings and fully resolves the matter with minimal expenses and disruption of operations” at its Lewiston and Georgia locations.
Jason Levesque had agreed to stay on last year as an executive vice president at the call center, drawing a $125,000 annual salary.
Regarding his lawsuit, filed at the end of May, he told the Sun Journal on Tuesday he’s “glad it’s over.” The result is that “both parties can move on and I wish and always will wish Argo the best of luck with its new owners.”
He called the staff “first rate” and said, “I know they’re gonna be great.”
The company employed roughly 300 people, two-thirds of them from the greater Lewiston area, at the time of the transfer of ownership about a year ago to the Georgia-based ITC Capital Partners.
Jonathan Brogan, lead attorney for ITC Argo, told the Sun Journal on Wednesday that his client is pleased the lawsuit has been resolved.
“We’re happy that the mayor will be able to go on with his work and other work in different areas and glad that both sides could see clear to get a resolution,” Brogan said.
No details of the settlement were made public.
Levesque filed a 27-page complaint in Androscoggin County Superior Court last spring alleging ITC Argo had failed to pay him commissions, travel expenses, capital assets and reimbursement for company expenses he had charged to his personal credit card.
Levesque said in his complaint that his total wages were to include commissions earned for bringing in new clients and expanding business with existing clients.
He filed a motion with the court seeking to have nearly $500,000 of ITC Argo’s assets set aside because he expected to be awarded that amount after prevailing in his lawsuit. That amount included at least $100,000 in past-due commissions and more than $50,000 he had charged to his personal credit card to cover the company’s utility and vendor debts, according to court papers.
Since 2013, Argo, a mostly inbound call center, has been headquartered at 64 Lisbon St., in the former McCrory’s department store, which underwent an extensive, multimillion-dollar renovation.
Levesque was elected mayor of Auburn in November 2017.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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