When a successful tire distribution company learned that one of its employees had been secretly operating a competing business for over four years while still working for the company and that key client files had gone missing and accounts stolen, they engaged Campolo, Middleton & McCormick to bring a lawsuit against the employee alleging misappropriation, unfair competition, and related claims. In response, the (now former) employee asserted numerous counterclaims against the tire company, including slander and defamation. Recognizing that the counterclaims were the employee’s attempt to distract the court from the damages our client seeks in the lawsuit, CMM’s litigation team swiftly moved to dismiss the counterclaims, highlighting the former employee’s contradictory statements and failure to plead the “bare minimum” of facts necessary to maintain the counterclaims.
The Supreme Court – Suffolk County, Commercial Division (J. Emerson) agreed with CMM’s arguments and granted our motion to dismiss the counterclaims against our client in their entirety. CMM’s Jeff Basso noted, “This decision paves the way for our client to pursue the real issues in this case and start to recover from the tremendous harm this employee has done to their business.”