Former Summer Infant Executives Refute Baseless Lawsuit

BOSTON, Nov. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Three former top executives of Summer Infant Inc. today comment on the lawsuit filed against them several months ago by Summer.  Their response comes on the day of Summer Infant's most recent earnings call where the Company revealed it has suffered the second consecutive quarterly loss since the lawsuit was filed.  Former CEO Carol Bramson, former President of Global Sales and Marketing Kenneth Price and former SVP of Product Development Annamaria Dooley have not commented since the lawsuit was filed against them on May 27, 2015.  However, after Summer announced yesterday its settlement of the lawsuit against Rest Devices Inc. and its intention to continue to vigorously pursue claims against them, Bramson, Price and Dooley felt it was time to speak.

"Summer filed this lawsuit over five months ago claiming it needed immediate relief to protect confidential information which Summer falsely claimed that the other defendants and I misappropriated," said former CEO Bramson.  "The week before the scheduled hearing, Summer withdrew its application. We had welcomed the opportunity to prove that Summer's allegations are completely baseless." 

Bramson, Price and Dooley will continue to vigorously defend themselves against Summer's false charges and pursue counterclaims (No. 15-cv-218-S-LDA (D.R.I.)DOC.111) against the Company asserting, among other things, that Summer has pursued the action for an improper purpose, knowing that its former executives had not formed any new, competing Company.  They are prepared to prove that Summer made numerous false allegations in its complaint in an effort to secure concessions from its former executives and competitor Rest Devices.  As noted in the counterclaim, Bramson, Price and Dooley did not "abruptly resign" from the Company as Summer alleges.  Rather, before resigning each expressed their concerns that Summer Chairman Daniel Almagor and President Robert Stebenne's actions were prejudicing the company and its shareholders.  Since Bramson, Dooley and Price left the company, Summer's share value under Almagor and Stebenne's leadership has declined significantly, while its legal expenses through September of this year, primarily for this case, total $3.7 million.   

"Ms. Bramson, Ms. Dooley and I will vigorously resist Summer's misuse of the legal system, and its attempt to mar our reputations and diminish our valuable contributions to Summer," said former President of Global Sales and Marketing Kenneth Price.  During the trio's tenure at Summer, the Company realized core branded product sales in excess of 8% and significant improvement in gross margins, EBITDA and EPS over the prior year. 

"The brand focus, product innovation activities and strategic positioning we pursued for Summer, including our recommendation for Summer Infant to affiliate with Rest Devices, were all driven by our commitment to shareholder value creation," said Bramson.  

Dooley noted that "The actions of Summer's current leadership have resulted in a significant reduction in shareholder value and undermine the Company's important mission to support infants, children and their families."

SOURCE Carol Bramson; Kenneth Price; Annamaria Dooley