Disco Elysium studio says lawsuits from former members have been resolved
The messy saga of Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM — which has been embroiled in a series of legal tussles relating to the involuntary departure of key team members in 2021 — has reached a new milestone, with ZA/UM announcing several of those lawsuits have now been resolved.
It's a story that first made headlines last October, when ZA/UM founder Martin Luiga claimed Disco Elysium designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art director Aleksander Rostov had been fired following the company's takeover by Estonian businessmen Ilmar Kompus (now ZA/UM CEO), and Tõnis Haavel, previously convicted of investment fraud.
Not long after confirming the news of their departure, Kurvitz and Rostov shared an open letter claiming Kompus and Haavel's takeover of ZA/UM was fraudulent and that they were booted out of the studio while trying to discover more. Kompus and Haavel then fired back, insisting the former employees had been dismissed for «belittling women and co-workers», creating a «toxic environment», and «intending to steal IP».
In the midst of all this, Kurvitz and Rostov launched what ZA/UM has referred to as «unfair dismissal» cases against the studio, and a third former employee — executive producer and marketing manager Kaur Kender — started his own legal battle, alleging he'd also been fired from ZA/UM for asking questions of its new management.
Three months on, ZA/UM has issued a press release announcing all three cases are resolved. Kurvitz and Rostov are said to have dropped their legal disputes due to a lack of evidence, while Kender has «divested all his shares in the studio, repaid all his debts to the studio», and, as per a court order, reimbursed Kompus for the legal costs associated with his lawsuit, which was
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