Richard Garriot Sues NCSoft

Mage Guru reports that Origin founder, Ultima creator and space hero Richard Garriott has filed a $27 million lawsuit against South Korea-based NCSoft relating to his departure from the company last year. The Austin Business Journal has the story:

In the lawsuit Garriott alleges NCsoft mischaracterized his termination in November 2008 as voluntary in order to force him to exercise his tens of millions of stock options "into one of of the worst equity markets in modern history." Had Garriott been terminated involuntarily his options would have remained until June 2011, the lawsuit states.

Garriott is seeking $27 million to recover the lost value of his stock options and for costs and tax liabilities associated with the exercise.

According to the lawsuit, Garriott was fired while he was still in quarantine from flight into outer space aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The son of an astronaut, Garriott took a working leave of absence on reduced salary to pursue that long held dream when he was informed by the head of NCsoft’s North American studios, Chris Chung, that the company wanted to "part ways," according to the lawsuit.