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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA recreational vehicle design and sales company is suing a long-time sales consultant for using proprietary information for a competitor’s benefit after a short-lived retirement.
Plaintiff Vomela Specialty Company of Minnesota says Amy Allen-Ross, who worked as a sales consultant for Vomela’s Elkhart office, siphoned proprietary information to Sharpline Converting, a Kansas-based firm with an Elkhart office, in violation of her contract, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Elkhart Superior Court.
Allen-Ross did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon from The Indiana Lawyer on Facebook Messenger.
Allen-Ross, who was employed with Vomela for more than 20 years, had access to sensitive information related to customers, pricing and designs, according to court documents. She signed a confidential information agreement in 2013 which states that all confidential information is the sole property of the company. She also signed a non-compete agreement.
On May 8, Allen-Ross told Vomela she would retire May 29. Her employment with Sharpline then began June 1, the lawsuit states.
Vomela officials say days after her final design was approved by an unnamed company in early May, that company received a similar design from Sharpline and a cheaper proposal, according to the lawsuit.
The company said in the lawsuit that Sharpline had no way of knowing about the design or the asking price unless it was disclosed by someone with access to such information.
Vomela said in the court documents that officials found Allen-Ross had deleted three months’ worth of emails before her departure. Vomela said some of the emails showed Allen-Ross disclosing design and design-related materials to another contractor she later recruited for Sharpline.
Sharpline also hired former employees whom Vomela said it believes were recruited by Allen-Ross.
Vomela is asking the court for a preliminary injunction to prevent the defendants from doing anything more with the confidential information and to order the return of all proprietary information. The company also requests injunctive relief as well as compensatory, unjust enrichment and exemplary damages, attorney’s fees and costs, a forensic accounting and inspection as well as any other available relief.
The case is Vomela Speciality Company v. Amy Allen-Ross and Sharpline Converting, Inc., cause number 20D02-2609-CE-000008
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