In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, Roy D. Wallen of Brookline claims he founded the company — headquartered in Georgia, but with an office in Keene — and worked as its CEO from December 2017 to May 2020.

But the company, through its attorney in Georgia, maintains that Wallen was a consultant and the consulting company got the stock options due.

During TechOut, Wallen presented the company’s Ocelot system, “a novel medical technology that addresses chronic tendon pain at lower costs in clinical and officebased settings” according to an article at the time in NH Business Review, one of the “international” publications Wallen cites as identifying him as the CEO.

In his suit, Wallen says that he worked more than a full work week, raised nearly $1 million in capital, obtained grants, acted as a primary contact for investors, served as company spokesperson, and represented the company on patent matters and license agreements.

But he also says that his powers as CEO were limited: He could not delegate tasks, nor could he hire and fire employees. That was the jurisdiction of the board.

There was no employment agreement, Wallen says in his suit, but TendoNova did require Wallen to agree to noncompete and nonsolicitation provisions in the stock agreement, thereby making him an employee under federal and state law. The company “willfully and deliberately misclassified Wallen as an independent contractor,” he alleges.

TendoNova has yet to reply to the suit in court, but its attorney Barton Black issued the following statement:

“TendoNova maintains that Mr. Wallen was not an employee of TendoNova, but that he delivered his services to TendoNova as a consultant through his medtech consulting company, Directional Healthcare. TendoNova further affirms that it has provided Directional Healthcare with all of the shares to which it is entitled under its Restricted Stock Agreement.

Mr. Wallen does not own and is not entitled to any shares of TendoNova.”

— BOB SANDERS