Bed Bath Beyond sued by ousted CEO Mark Tritton

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Bed Bath Beyond sued by ousted CEO Mark Tritton

NEW YORK Reuters - Bed Bath Beyond Inc was sued on Friday by Mark Tritton, who was ousted as chief executive of the troubled home goods retailer in June, accusing the company of failing to honor his $6,765, 000 severance agreement.

According to the complaint filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, Tritton said Bed Bath Beyond stopped making required bi-monthly payments in January, with its chief legal officer citing the need to preserve cash as the sole reason.

In those discussions Bed Bath Beyond conceded Tritton was entitled to severance payments, under his agreement dated four days after he was replaced as chief executive, the complaint said.

Tritton accused the company of bad faith for proposing a buy out of his severance at a discount but only if performance improves, even as it resumes paying severance to some former employees.

Bed Bath Beyond did not respond to requests for comment after business hours. Tritton's lawyers didn't respond immediately to similar requests.

The Union, New Jersey-based company is trying to turn around its business after taking too much debt, being slow to embrace online sales and alienating consumers by de-emphasizing brand-name products.

Bed Bath Beyond is closing hundreds of stores and plans to sell up to $300 million of stock on Thursday.

It also estimated that sales in stores closed at least one year fell 40% to 50% in the quarter ending February 25, and warned that bankruptcy was possible if its turnaround didn't work.

Shares of Bed Bath Beyond closed down 16.6 cents at a record low of 42.7 cents on Friday.

The company is one of several meme stocks, and its shares traded at $30 as recently as last August.