Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg owes $36,000 in unpaid wages to two of its former partners, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled Monday, scolding the defunct intellectual property boutique for creating a “labyrinth” to avoid paying its debts.

The default judgment, entered by Judge Eric M. Davis, faulted the Houston-based firm for purposely avoiding service on the departed partners' demands that Novak Druce produce wages that went unpaid two years.

Novak Druce had argued in court filings that the firm's neglect was excusable and that the attorneys' claims were time barred, under a one-year statute of limitations for recovering wages.