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.