Bill Gross was warned he would lose his bonus if he quit Pacific Investment Management Co. before the end of the quarter, Pimco said in a court filing, challenging the central claim in his lawsuit against his former employer seeking hundreds of millions of dollars.

“He had no employment agreement, and he acknowledged that leaving Pimco before the end of the third quarter of 2014 would render him ineligible for the profit sharing payments he now claims he is owed,” Pimco said in a court filing Monday.

In its first response to the substance of Gross’s allegations in the state court suit in Santa Ana, California, Pimco says the fund manager met with Chief Executive Officer Douglas Hodge and general counsel David Flattum on Sept. 25, 2014, the day before his exit, and was informed that he wouldn’t get the bonus if he quit. He left a handwritten resignation note the next morning, according to the filing.

Gross’s attorney, Patricia Glaser, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Gross departed Pimco after a public falling out with other top executives as lagging results at the Pimco Total Return Fund, at the time the world’s largest mutual fund, led to a flood of redemptions. The money manager, who now runs the $1.26 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, sued a year later, claiming he was ousted so that Pimco wouldn’t have to pay him his $200 million cut of the bonus pool and other managing directors could increase their compensation.

After his departure, Newport Beach, California-based Pimco’s assets under management fell more than 20 percent to $1.43 trillion at the end of 2015. The flagship Total Return Fund has shrunk to $87.8 billion from a 2013 peak of $293 billion.

Gross, 71, whose estimated net worth is $1.9 billion, has said he will donate any award or settlement from the lawsuit to charity.

Superior Court Judge  Martha Gooding ruled on March 14 that there was a legal basis for Gross’s claims and that the suit could proceed. Gooding said that Gross alleged sufficient facts regarding his status “as the founder, a 40-year history, an alleged track record of bringing success and/or fame to the enterprise, as well as a series of alleged oral promises/assurances of continued employment.”

The case is Gross v. Pacific Investment Management Co., 30-2015-00813636, California Superior Court, Orange County (Santa Ana).