JAMS Arbitrator Relies on Brattle’s Damages Analyses in Breach of Contract and Fiduciary Duty Dispute
In a recent JAMS arbitration involving several claims – including breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty – brought against the cofounders of a venture studio, a Brattle team provided valuation analyses on behalf of the claimant, the company’s former Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Principal and Technology practice Co-Leader Farooq Javed served as the claimant’s damages expert, and his assessments were relied upon in the final award, which – confirmed on January 30, 2026 – awarded the claimant a total of $3.8 million.
Artur Kiulian joined CoLab, which partners with early-stage companies to help scale their operations, as CTO shortly after its founding in 2014, and later became an equal owner with founders Jon Bradford and Michael Buchanan. In 2020, after Mr. Kiulian confronted Mr. Bradford about the alleged misappropriation of company funds, CoLab ceased paying the CTO’s salary and restricted his access to company systems – actions the arbitrator later found constituted constructive termination. After CoLab failed to participate in required mediation, Kiulian filed a JAMS Demand for Arbitration against the company and its founders in May 2022.
Among many allegations, Mr. Kiulian claimed that equity and proceeds promised to him were withheld, including in instances when the founders personally kept shares resulting from the 2019 sale of CoLab client Pluto.TV to Viacom rather than having the proceeds go to CoLab (and, ultimately, Mr. Kiulian), and when proceeds from the public sale of another client, GetCharged, were not distributed. He also alleged violations of the California Labor Code and the Fair Labor Standards Act in actions leading up to and following his termination.
Brattle was retained by Grellas Shah LLP in 2024 to quantify Mr. Kiulian’s economic losses related to breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims, with Mr. Javed serving as the damages expert throughout the arbitration proceedings. Because the respondents failed to comply with discovery orders, the Brattle team had access to significantly less information about the portfolio than would typically be available in valuing such assets. Mr. Javed relied on the limited available documents – along with public information and relevant industry trends – and made a number of clearly stated assumptions grounded in sound economic principles to estimate CoLab’s portfolio value and to calculate Mr. Kiulian’s rightful ownership interest, including the value of shares owed to him but never received.
“Mr. Javed’s deep expertise in valuing early-stage companies came through at every stage of this arbitration, which involved the challenging valuation of a portfolio of private companies where many traditional sources of valuation data were unavailable,” said Dhaivat Shah, Partner at Grellas Shah LLP. “He approached these challenges with creativity and rigor.”
Judge Ann Kough found Mr. Javed’s assumptions “economically reasonable and appropriate” under the circumstances, noting that his analysis necessarily relied on “more assumptions than are usually relied upon by experts,” a consequence she attributed entirely to the respondents’ failure to meet their discovery obligations. The arbitrator awarded Mr. Kiulian $1.8 million for breach of contract and fiduciary duty claims, plus prejudgment interest. She also awarded emotional distress and punitive damages, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, resulting in a total award of approximately $3.8 million for Mr. Kiulian.
