California court could bring closure to Picsel legal battle

A YEAR-LONG court action in the United States involving the founder and executives of a Scottish mobile technology firm may finally come to a head this month.

Glasgow's Picsel Technologies, which went into administration in 2009 before it was resurrected through a management buyout, became embroiled in a legal dispute in the US last June.

A suit was launched by several of the firm's former US employees, including Picsel's former chief operating officer in the Americas, Bill Vanke.

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Vanke's allegations centre on problems associated with the firm getting into financial trouble and subsequently emerging as a management buyout. Some former employees claim they were unpaid by Picsel for up to a year.

They also allege that Picsel's owners, Imran Khand and Masood Jabbar, did not include any of the company's non-UK entities as bankrupt, and that creditors, employees and other stakeholders are owed money from those parts of the business.

Chicago-based lawyer Craig Marr, who is acting for Vanke, told Scotland on Sunday that a North California District Court partial summary judgment hearing is scheduled for 23 June. "The litigation case concerns claims filed against Imran Khand, Masood Jabbar, and two overseas defendant companies Picsel Holdings Limited and Picsel Group Holdings Limited," he said.

Failure to settle matters this month would lead to a court-ordered mediation deadline of 23 July. If all else fails, the case could go to trial in San Francisco in September.

Picsel's software is used in electronic devices by Motorola, Nokia and Samsung.