Lawsuit alleges wrongdoing by Norton's former GM

A civil lawsuit has been filed in the Green Lake Circuit Court by POC Ventures, LLC, the owner of Norton's of Green Lake, against partner and former general manager of the restaurant, Doug Curtis. The investors behind POC Ventures at its inception include Curtis, who is a minority owner; Craig Culver, founder of the Culver's fast-food restaurant chain, Doug and Diane Oberhelman, who make up D&D Oberhelman Investments; as well as Joe and Tina Pregont of the Joe Pregont Revocable Trust. Norton's was purchased by POC Ventures LLC in April 2022 from the prior owners, Robyn and George Mockus, and took operation of the restaurant from seasonal to being open year-round. Curtis is a 25% stakeholder in the restaurant on Green Lake's north shore. The lawsuit seeks damages for monies lost due to Curtis' alleged illegal activities, and to either dissolve the LLC or expel Curtis from POC Ventures. The lawsuit launches three counts toward Curtis: Count one, civil theft under Wisconsin Statute, which includes the intentional taking for his own benefit funds from POC. Under state statutes, Curtis is liable to POC for actual damages from his unlawful actions in an amount to be proven at trial, plus all costs of investigation and litigation reasonably incurred, and exemplary damages of not more than three times the actual damages awarded. Count two, breach of fiduciary duty. As a member of POC, Curtis owed a fiduciary duty to POC and allegedly breached that duty when he knowingly used POC's funds to pay for personal expenses, debts owed to third parties and for other purposes not in the best interest of POC. Count three, judicial dissolution, when a member in control of POC's operations acted in a maimer that is illegal or fraudulent, grounds exist to dissolve POC or expel Curtis as a member of POC. Curtis has been accused of multiple wrongdoing and misuse of funds from POC in his capacity as the restaurant's general manager, including causing restaurant employees to falsify payroll records related to his children, who were part-time employees. On numerous occasions, he was alleged to have employees add hours to his son's timecard that he had not worked. Similarly, his daughter was hired to do marketing work for the restaurant, but allegedly did not work at all for the 16 hours per week she was paid. Curtis' children also allegedly were allowed to charge personal items to the restaurant account at a local grocery store, including pizza and other "junk food" to the restaurant account, for which Curtis did not reimburse the restaurant. Expensive dinners also were ordered from the restaurant that were not run through the restaurant's POS system, and were never paid for. Witnesses said this occurred numerous times, and more frequently occurred when Curtis ordered prime rib dinners for friends. On another occasion, Curtis allegedly allowed a person to host a holiday party at the restaurant for approximately 40 people without paying the restaurant. Curtis instructed the staff not to ring up any of the party's orders in the POS system. According to the person who held the party, Curtis owed him money for a job at Curtis' new home, and the free holiday party and other favors were compensation to him for his work. Another employee allegedly was allowed to pad her hours at work to compensate the employee for work the employee's husband did for Curtis' home construction. As the restaurant manager, Curtis also allegedly engaged in tax evasion, according to court documents, regarding alcohol sales. Curtis supposedly instructed restaurant employees to accept cash payments for alcohol without running it through the POS system, avoiding sales tax on those alcohol purchases. Restaurant employees also discovered that Curtis allegedly wrote checks from the restaurant's account for expenditures that were not related to the restaurant. These included, the lawsuit alleges, among other things, a $400 check to a waste management company, even though the restaurant uses a different company for waste removal.

The waste management company confirmed to investigators that the $400 payment was for a rental payment for a 20-yard dumpster, delivered to Curtis' residence, and was not a restaurant expense. Curtis also is accused of taking checks payable to the restaurant, but never depositing those checks in the restaurant's account. A check for $288 from a recycling company that purchases the restaurant's used oil allegedly was received by Curtis, but the deposit was never made. Unauthorized personal expenses also were allegedly charged to the restaurant bank accounts, including charges for gas, furniture, hotel stays, health insurance, paint brashes, fence posts, mulch, groceries and numerous purchases on Amazon for items unrelated to the restaurant. Restaurant business records show that Curtis allegedly skimmed funds from the restaurant's bank accounts by recording gift card sales that were never made and taking the corresponding cash. In another example, a construction company has confirmed that services were performed at Curtis' residence and he paid for those services with funds from the restaurant's bank account. On numerous occasions, a snow plow service was allegedly provided at a rental property located on Illinois Avenue in Green Lake where Curtis lived while his new home was being constructed. Again, funds were used from the restaurant's account. The lawsuit goes on to claim that neither POC or its other members authorized Curtis to use company money to pay personal expenses, to skirt the POS system or to engage in the other conduct alleged by the lawsuit, and were done without POC or its other members' knowledge or consent. The court has given the defendant, Curtis, 45 days to respond to the summons, which was dated Dec. 22, 2023, or he may lose the opportunity to object to anything that is or may be incorrect in the complaint. The complainant requested relief from the judge for judgment against Curtis for civil theft, an award of damages in an amount to be determined at trial, including treble damages and actual attorney's fees, and for an order expelling Curtis as a member of POC or the dissolution of POC.