Social Club for Dogs Hit With Lawsuit by Its Ousted Co-Founder

The co-founder of a Maryland-based social club for dogs sued the startup, Bark Social, saying he was abruptly forced out for reporting burnout tied to his 80-hour workweeks.

The lawsuit by Jeffrey Kurtzman also targets co-founder Lukas Silverman and Arie Abecassis, a financial backer who sits on the board. The suit says they fired him after vetoing his proposal to bring on additional help—or enlist them as full-time employees—and sought to condition any severance package on the repurchase of Kurtzman’s stake for less than it’s worth.

Then, “having failed to strongarm Kurtzman into relinquishing his equity in the company for ...