Two dozen employees who were given severance agreements by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment can sue the company for tens of thousands of dollars each.
On Wednesday, Denver District Judge Chris Baumann sided with Drake Solomon, who was let go from his gig as Nuggets mascot Rocky in 2024. Solomon had asked the judge to let other former Kroenke employees join him in a class action lawsuit against KSE.
“Multiple lawsuits involving the legality of the same severance agreement does not promote judicial economy, efficiency or uniformity of decisions,” Baumann said at a morning hearing.
“The court also does not believe that individual plaintiffs would have much of an incentive to pursue individual litigation, given the relatively modest amount,” the judge explained.
Attorneys for the former KSE employees believe the workers are entitled to $25,000 to $30,000 each, along with reimbursement of their attorney fees, if a jury agrees that their severance agreements unfairly limited the workers’ rights to discuss their employment and disparage KSE.
Wednesday’s decision impacts former KSE employees who were presented with a severance agreement after Aug. 7, 2023. Solomon’s lawyers estimate the group consists of 23 people plus their client, and will spend the coming months tracking them and any others down.
“(Asking) up to 23 plaintiffs besides Mr. Solomon to litigate the legality of the severance agreements and leaving their employment with KSE is not practicable,” Baumann says.
A five-day trial is expected to take place in March. There, the group will ask Denver jurors to find that the severance agreements were illegal. Solomon, meanwhile, will go further, asking jurors to also determine that he was unlawfully terminated as Rocky due to a hip condition.
KSE — which also owns the Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, Colorado Mammoth, Ball Arena and Elitch Gardens — has said that Solomon was fired for “business reasons,” not because of his hip condition, and that the condition is not a disability anyway.
Solomon, a 33-year-old who now lives in Texas, is the son of Kenn Solomon, who became the first Rocky in 1990 and remained the mascot until his retirement in 2021. His attorneys are Virginia Butler, Matt Cron and Aria Vaughan of Rathod Mohamedbhai in Denver.
KSE’s lawyers are Danielle Urban and Stephanie McConkie at Fisher Phillips in Denver.
