Von Roll claims former exec stole information from company Monday, December 24, 2007 By James Schlett Gazette Reporter
ALBANY — A former Von Roll USA executive allegedly recruited his son as a mole at the electrical insulation manufacturer’s Rotterdam facility to access customer and supplier information as he prepared to create a competing company, according to a federal lawsuit. Attempting to stem the emergence of a rival allegedly supported by information accessed from company computers and servers, the Swiss manufacturing company is suing Jack Craig, who resigned last year as the company’s chief executive officer for western hemisphere operations. Von Roll is also suing Craig’s son, Jason, and three other former company workers who allegedly gathered information in Rotterdam for the proposed rival venture. The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, reveals a series of security breaches at a facility Von Roll plans to turn into its corporate headquarters, which are presently located in Atlanta. Using the allegedly stolen proprietary information — including downloaded specifications for U.S. Department of Defense contracts — some of the former Von Roll employees have already allegedly started contacting company customers and at least one supplier in Connecticut. “This is now a red flag that the competing business is now up and running and that the misuse of Von Roll’s trade secrets and other proprietary information is well under way,” the suit states. Jack Craig resigned from Von Roll in July 2006, though he had announced his resignation seven months earlier. But as early as April, the executive, who began working for Von Roll in 2001, and his son started hatching plans to compete with their employer. Jason Craig worked as a salesman for Von Roll from 2004 until last month, when he was fired for allegedly e-mailing to his father a 22-page confidential report containing detailed product specifications.
Ex-workers deny Von Roll data theft Firm's lawsuit claims former employees are using stolen info to set up rival business
By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer First published: Friday, January 4, 2008
ALBANY -- Former Von Roll USA employees accused of stealing confidential information from the company's Rotterdam plant say there is no evidence to support the claim.
The five employees, including former Chief Executive Jack Craig and his son, Jason, are being sued by the Switzerland-based maker of insulation products, which claims the ex-workers are using stolen, proprietary data to set up a rival business. The suit, filed in December, also claims the employees remotely accessed confidential information on Von Roll computer servers in Rotterdam. The other former employees named in the suit are Brett Portwood, Brad Archambeau and Linda Belcher, who all worked for Austral, a Von Roll subsidiary in Georgia. The three, along with Jack Craig, are apparently setting up the new business, which is not named in court documents. In a filing in U.S. District Court in Albany, the four say New York law does not prevent them from establishing a competing company. They also say Von Roll has submitted no evidence to back its theft allegations. "Also glaringly absent from the record is any evidence of an immediate, irreparable injury to Von Roll," the filing states. It adds: "The 'evidence' provided by Von Roll shows its allegations to be a house of cards, built on nothing more than speculation." Von Roll has asked the court for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the former employees from using the disputed information to set up the new company. A hearing on the injunction is set for 9 a.m. Monday. Jason Craig, who worked as a Rotterdam-based salesman for Von Roll before being fired in November, is not involved in the establishment of the new business, his attorney, Robert Ganz of Albany, said Thursday. "My client doesn't believe he has done anything wrong," Ganz said. Von Roll's North American headquarters are in Atlanta, which the company said in July it planned to move to Rotterdam this year. Besides asking the court to forbid the use of its proprietary information, Von Roll is seeking compensatory and punitive damage awards and wants the former employees to return salary and benefits received since May 2006, when they allegedly formulated the plan to gather confidential information. The company said in court papers that the information is "worth hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of dollars." A phone call to Richard Weisz, the Albany-based attorney for the other defendants, was not returned Thursday. Scott Barbour, local counsel for Von Roll, declined to comment. Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.
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