i didn't read enough of the countersuit but this is what i saw about it:
In the days before their firing, Schaefer and Block spoke with VMP co-founder Matt Fiedler about their conflicting ideas for the company’s future, according to Schaefer and Block. There were no allegations of financial impropriety or mismanagement then, they say.Instead, all sides talked about a path forward, including either a new role for Schaefer and Block or an exit strategy, which would include severance. Block was to get $169,000, Schaeffer $125,000, and one year of health insurance, according to Schaefer and Block. Then, on March 21, the two execs were abruptly fired, ensuring they would not receive benefits.“This abrupt and factually false change in position was led by Keith Stoltz, who had boasted of his bad faith treatment of employees at other companies that he owns,” according to a countersuit that Schaefer and Block filed on June 28 in Denver District Court.
Schaefer and Block say that VMP’s lawsuit against them “is being pushed and paid for” by Stoltz, who has “filed meritless lawsuits against former employees of other companies that he owns to ‘teach them a lesson’ and punish them when they did not follow his directives.”“This lawsuit was filed as a way to avoid paying severance amounts due under their employment contracts and to attempt to force (Schaefer and Block) — through expensive litigation — to forfeit their ownership interests in the company,” the countersuit claims.