People are buzzing over a recent lawsuit between Chicago’s Intelligentsia Coffee and former COO Bob Quinlan, now of Metropolis Coffee Company.
More from the Naperville Sunย (emphasis ours):
Intelligentsia, in legal papers, alleges Quinlan violated a confidentiality agreement he signed upon his โterminationโ when he alerted the head of Human Resources that she would be losing her job. The suit also alleges that as top boss of Metropolis, Quinlan โ if he hasnโt already โ would likely divulge Intelligentsiaโs trade secrets, also in violation of the confidentiality agreement.
โAs CEO of Metropolis, given his knowledge of Intelligentsiaโs marketing plans, business plans, pricing, marketing, and sales strategies, coffee roasting and production processes, and its global network of coffee farmers and suppliers, Quinlan has used or disclosed, and/or will inevitably use or disclose Intelligentsiaโs confidential information and trade secrets to its direct competitor,โ the lawsuit states.
โQuinlanโs inevitable disclosure of Intelligentsiaโs trade-secret information will cause Intelligentsia to suffer damages in the form of lost revenue and profits,โ the suit states.
Albert F. Ferolie, a River North attorney representing Quinlan, said: โBob denies the allegations in the complaint.โ
Read the whole thing here. For the record (and because it’s germane to this coverage), Intelligentsia is a longstanding sponsor of Sprudge.com; we reached out to them for comment, and they politely declined.
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