TIG alleged that one of those employees, William Clark Decker, who served as the company's director of engineering services, left TIG "involuntarily and on bad terms," after which he sent voicemails and emails to TIG's Geier containing threats to "bury" Geier and TIG as well as racial slurs.ĭecker then allegedly solicited his six former MTI and TIG colleagues and other TIG colleagues to work for Nexus IS "in violation of his employment agreement with TIG and to fulfill his promises to Bruce to bury him, bury him n the industry, and to negatively the business of TIG, and to get back at him for losing his job with TIG," according to the lawsuit.ĬRN was unable to contact Decker via email or telephone. The agreements also forbid them from taking trade secrets from TIG or competing against the company by using such trade secrets after they've left the company, according to the lawsuit. Those employees signed employment agreements restricting them from soliciting TIG employees for another employer for a year after leaving the company. In the 2008 lawsuit, a copy of which CRN reviewed, TIG in 2007 hired the seven former MTI employees. "Hiring five people from a single company over a couple months is not unusual." "We will hire 150 people over the course of this year," he said. Pearson also said the fact that Nexus IS hired a group of people from another company is not unusual. It was a distraction more than anything else." Nexus IS didn't use any TIG confidential information, period. "Our insurance company represented us because we didn't do anything wrong.
"There was no evidence to support the lawsuit," Pearson said. Nexus IS CEO Deron Pearson told CRN the lawsuit should never have been filed, and that the settlement, which he said was paid for by Nexus IS's insurance company and probably was less than what TIG paid its law firm, made it possible to close the case and remove the distractions it caused. "You run into a guy like me, and I don't care how, but I gotta make it stop."
You just can't be greedy."īy settling and then talking about the case, Geier said he hopes the message that competitors can compete without resorting to illegal tactics will sink in throughout the solution provider community.
"It's about how to make this a better sandbox for all of us to play in," Geier said. San Diego-based TIG filed the lawsuit against Valencia, Calif.-based Nexus IS in late 2008, and it was settled days before it was expected to go to trial.īoth solution providers claimed victory in the lawsuit.įor TIG, the $1.04 million settlement vindicated its allegations that Nexus IS improperly employed TIG personnel and used TIG intellectual property.īruce Geier, TIG president and CEO, told CRN the case was more than just money. The settlement, which includes Nexus IS paying TIG just slightly over $1 million while not admitting guilt, ends a case that started back in 2007 when TIG hired a group of seven employees from MTI, a storage solution provider that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that same year. Solution providers Technology Integration Group and Nexus IS this week settled a lawsuit under which TIG accused Nexus IS and several former TIG employees of breech of contract, stealing of trade secrets and illegally hiring TIG personnel. TIG’s Geier (left) and Nexus IS’s Pearson both claim victory.