Comsat Corp. [CQ] filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Md., against three former executives who recently left to join a competitor, Stratos Mobile Networks. The lawsuit alleges the former employees misappropriated confidential, sensitive and proprietary business information, and "purposefully and systematically" destroyed computer files before resigning. The executives named in Comsat's lawsuit are Wayne D'Ambrosio, Daryl Newsom and Robert Roe.
Comsat is seeking the return of all proprietary information and documents, and wants the defendants barred from disclosing or using Comsat's trade secrets. The company also is asking to be compensated for damages to its business that it alleges the three former employees have caused. Comsat is asking the court to hold the employees jointly and severally liable for damages of $1 million and an additional $100,000 for each day that they are employed by Stratos to sell mobile satellite services to the U.S. government. The three were hired for Stratos' Bethesda, Md., office where they sell government and large system contracts, said Derrick Rowe, president and CEO of Stratos Mobile. "I have yet to see the statement of claim so I cannot comment on the specifics," he said. "However, I would like to state that it is not our policy in any shape or form to breach any confidentiality or secrecy agreement." The executives named in the suit had no immediate comment.