Cruise agency ex- employees ordered to pay damages
Five misappropriated client information: ruling
Five former employees of a Vancouver cruise- booking agency have been ordered to pay $ 590,000 in damages after a B. C. Supreme Court judge ruled they “misappropriated” customer lists and other confidential information owned by their former employer.
Darrin Cancellieri, Robert Stover, Grace Markus, Alan Szeto and Melanie Iverson all worked for Cruise Connections Canada until 2006 when they resigned and went to work for competitors in the travel business, Vision Travel 2000 Travel Group and Meridian Travel Ltd., according to court documents that set out the written reasons for judgment.
Cancellieri, Stover, Markus and Szeto were working on contract to Cruise Connections as cruise booking specialists at the time of their departure, while Iverson was employed as the office manager.
When they left, Cruise Connections alleged they took with them valuable client information from the company database — including names of past and present clients, their cruising history, and financial and credit card information — in breach of individual employment agreements.
The company claimed the defection of its former employees left it out of pocket an estimated $ 1.75 million.
In a trial held last fall in Vancouver, the defendants denied they took any confidential information. They argued that they each developed and maintained their own customer lists and owed no duty of confidence to their former employer with respect to that information.
Judge Paul Pearlman, in an 83- page judgment made public Monday, ruled in favour of Cruise Connections Canada, concluding Cancellieri, Stover, Markus and Szeto “misappropriated confidential client information and used it for their own benefit and that of Vision 2000.”
The judge also found Iverson in breach of the terms of a confidentiality and non- disclosure agreement with Cruise Connections, and that Meridian and Vision 2000 were vicariously liable for Iverson’s interference with her former employer.
A sixth defendant, Bernadette Estrada, was found to have played a lesser role in the taking and misuse of client information. The judge limited the award against her to $ 20,000.