Former owners of JCB Labs in Wichita sue current owners

The former owners of JCB Labs in Wichita last week filed a lawsuit in federal court against its current owners, saying they have not been paid what they are owed.

Kent Richardson and Brian Williams founded the medical lab company in 2002 and owned it until 2013, when they sold it to Dutch medical products company Fagron.

The lab, at 7335 W. 33rd St. North, makes sterile compounded preparations for ambulatory surgery centers, hospitals and dialysis clinics with a specialty in pain, ophthalmic and drug shortage preparations.

For a decade JCB was regarded as one of Wichita’s star entrepreneurial success stories because of rapid growth. It received state and local grants to help with its expansion, but the founders also were looking to sell in order to gain the capital and market access needed to keep growing.

They were paid some money at the time of the sale, according to the suit, but were owed additional compensation based on JCB’s financial performance in 2015 and 2016.

In the suit, they contend they are owed $6 million based on the lab’s performance, but said they were told by Fagron that they would receive nothing.

“The defendants’ response to the plaintiff’s demand that they comply with their contractual obligations has been a thumb to the nose.”

Messages for comment left with plaintiffs’ attorney Randy Rathbun and with Fagron were not immediately returned.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Former owners of JCB Labs in Wichita sue current owners."