Designer Frank sues ex-business partners
Charlotte Observer
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES – Paul Frank, the artist behind the monkey-face icon Julius that adorns a popular line of fashions for young girls, is suing the company that bears his name in a bid to shut it down.
This week, Frank sued Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Industries, claiming company President Ryan Heuser and Chief Executive John Oswald fired him in November “without cause.”
Frank also claims the two executives are paying themselves excessive salaries and using company cars and other assets for personal use.
The firm generates annual sales in excess of $40 million because of the popularity of Julius and other designs, including Ellie the elephant and Clancy the giraffe, Frank claims, so he is seeking an order to shut down the firm to protect his interests.
In a separate lawsuit, Frank claims the company is using his designs without his permission.
“I was promised by the partners I brought in that they would make my creations even more profitable,” Frank said in a statement. “What they didn’t tell me was that they would snatch those profits for themselves.”
A call to the company seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday.
The company has said Frank left the company last year “to pursue other interests,” noting he would remain “a significant stakeholder.”
The designer, whose full name is Paul Frank Sunich, started the company in 1995, selling wallets fitted with a patch of his monkey icon design from a newsstand where he worked.
Heuser joined later that year to handle marketing and Oswald came on two years later.
At the time, the Frank, Heuser and Oswald each owned one-third of the company.
Over the years, the garment firm has grown and now operates 14 stores in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo and other cities.
