Wardy Escalates Feud by Suing St. John Knits Executives

An ongoing feud between St. John Knits and Amen Wardy Jr. intensified Tuesday when a Colorado company owned by Wardy and his father filed a lawsuit against the upscale clothier’s executives.

The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, rehashes many of the issues covered in a wrongful termination lawsuit that Wardy filed against the Irvine company in October after he was fired as chief executive of St. John subsidiary Amen Wardy Home Stores LLC.

It claims that St. John forced the opening of the home stores in poor retail locations to “prop up and enhance” existing St. John stores and that the home stores were used as a “sacrificial lamb,” to make St. John financial statements look better.

It also claims that the Wardys were cut out of the decision-making process with regard to the subsidiary and denied access to its records, despite their 49% ownership in Amen Wardy Home.

Mirroring the previous lawsuit, the new legal challenge accuses St. John of improperly taking 100% of the home stores’ losses and with attempting to force Amen Wardy Jr. to retroactively ratify improper accounting methods used by St. John executives.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of AWH Direct LLC, a Colorado company that is owned by the Wardys and Bob Hightower, a Colorado resident. AWH Direct owns 49% of Amen Wardy Home Stores and St. John owns the remaining 51%.

The lawsuit seeks more than $5 million in damages.

Defendants in the lawsuit include St. John Chief Executive Robert Gray, President Kelly A. Gray and clothing designer Marie St. John Gray.

St. John officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.