Lawsuit: Ultimate California Pizza claims financial misconduct by former employee
Ultimate California Pizza is claiming one of its former high-level employees, who now operates a competitor, misused his position to benefit himself financially.
The company, with four locations and an arcade in Horry County, and River City Cafe jointly filed a lawsuit against Nathan Anderson, their former senior executive and chief operating officer, in January 2019. Both companies are part of Divine Dining Group, which also includes Nacho Hippo and Bubba’s Fish Shack.
The companies say in court documents that Anderson worked for them about eight years beginning in 2008, though Anderson denied working specifically for River City Cafe in his response.
The restaurants allege that Anderson’s misconduct — which included ordering employees to perform maintenance services for his wife’s company and at his personal residence — resulted in an audit of his activities while he worked with the company.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to order Anderson to provide financial relief for the damages he caused, but they don’t list an estimated dollar figure in any of the court filings.
Anderson, who now owns Pizza Hyena in Surfside Beach, denied all of the claims against him and filed a counterclaim alleging defamation.
The case is still ongoing, with mediation required to be complete by May 1 with a trial not to be scheduled before June 1, court records show. Anderson and his attorney, Natale Fata, twice filed motions to compel during the discovery period, alleging a lack of cooperation by the plaintiffs in answering questions and providing documents, but they later dismissed the motion each time.
Anderson, Fata and Dominic Starr, an attorney representing Ultimate California Pizza and River City Cafe, all declined to comment on the pending litigation.
