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Belk drops lawsuit, settles with former CEO

Federal court records show the Charlotte-based clothing retailer agreed with Nir Patel and Texas-based GameStop to dismiss the suit with prejudice.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-based clothing retailer Belk has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed against its former CEO and his current company three months after initially filing against him in federal court.

Court records reviewed by WCNC Charlotte confirm Belk agreed to the settlement with Nir Patel and Texas-based video game retailer GameStop on Nov. 17. Five days later, the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the suit cannot be pursued further.

Belk claimed in their original August 2022 lawsuit that Patel, now COO at GameStop, took company documents and employees with him. The clothing retailer claimed Patel had solicited current Belk employees, which he was not allowed to do for a year after leaving per a nonsolicitation covenant he had agreed to.

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However, he and Gamestop were accused of offering jobs to many senior Belk employees, including former senior member Tim May who was also named in the suit.

The lawsuit claimed Patel and May worked to send confidential employee pay information to GameStop, and May was further accused of violating state and federal trade secret laws. GameStop was further accused of tortious interference and unfair trade practices.

Court documents did not disclose the terms of the settlement.

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WCNC Charlotte has reached out to press relations representatives for both companies for comment. This story will be updated if any response is received.

Belk was founded in the Charlotte area in the late 1800s and now has 200 stores in more than a dozen states. GameStop was founded in 1984 in Dallas, Texas as Babbage's and has more than 4,500 stores globally under six different brands.

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