Some very recognizable northwest Arkansas entrepreneurs are going to be on the receiving end of a civil lawsuit that was filed Thursday.
Kyle Davis of Texarkana filed the lawsuit in Washington County Circuit Court on Thursday alleging the owners of the Bentonville Butcher & Pint restaurant used “fraudulent acts” to get out of paying him a previous judgment of more than $77,000.
Davis owns the two-story 18,984-SF building at 1201 S. Walton Blvd. in which Butcher & Pint was located until a few months ago.
Among the owners of Butcher & Pint? None other than Stan Zylowski and April Seggebruch, the co-founders of Movista. Seggebruch is an Arkansas Business 40 Under 40 honoree this year.
Seggebruch did not return a call asking for comment. The lawsuit is so fresh there was no record of any summonses issued at press time.
The lawsuit, filed by Jason Wales of the Wales Comstock law firm in Fayetteville, alleged that the owners of Good Meats LLC, the company that owns the restaurant, were also involved in other connected business entities.
The individuals involved used the various subsidiaries as a “giant piggy bank” to transfer money back and forth, the complaint alleges.
Davis had obtained the original judgment against Good Meats in 2019 in Benton County Circuit Court after he said the restaurant had defaulted on a lease agreement beginning in 2017. The restaurant was evicted and is still searching for a new location, according to its Facebook page.
The lawsuit said the ownership group “essentially stripped” Good Meats of assets to avoid paying the judgment. The lawsuit said $54,000 was transferred to DBRC LLC, whose members include Seggebruch, Zylowski and Rustin Chrisco; $35,150 to Four Square Development LLC, led by Chrisco; and $52,499 to Icebreaker LLC, whose members include Carol Reeves and Philip Zweig.
Chrisco is a Bentonville real estate investor. Reeves is a renowned entrepreneurship professor at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and Zweig is her husband.
Seggebruch is the registered agent of Good Meats, DBRC, Four Square and Icebreaker.
Davis’ lawsuit claims the defendants committed fraudulent transfers and deceptive trade practices.
He is asking for the original judgment to be enforced as well as interest and fees; the lawsuit also asks for punitive damages.
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