Cargill has filed a lawsuit against
Jason Kuan who used to be the Canadian manager of the company’s case-ready
business.
Cargill says he took company secrets to
JBS’s operations at Greeley, Colorado, when he accepted a job offer there. He
left Cargill Aug. 1.
Kuan received a laptop from Cargill as
part of his employment there, the lawsuit states.
Cargill says he resigned Aug. 1 without
notice, and Cargill launched an investigation.
Cargill’s lawsuit says a forensic
analysis of the laptop revealed he had downloaded hundreds of “highly
confidential and proprietary” files to an external hard drive that he did not
return to the company before his resignation.
Kuan had signed a confidentiality
agreement that, among other things, Cargill says prohibits such transfer of
proprietary electronic information.
In rare cases when such transfer is
appropriate, the company provides specially approved, secure devices for such
purposes, the lawsuit states.
Cargill believes Kuan has the following
Cargill property:
- Strategic plans for Case Ready North
America, which include customer plans, financials, key focus areas, and
growth plans;
- Presentations on Case Ready plant
transitions, which include capital investments, plant layout, project
spending, pictures of the plant floor and equipment, staffing plans, yield
info, customer plans, volume by customer, audit findings, functional area
plans and progress;
- Presentations to CRLT on progress for
Case Ready Canada plants, which include information regarding new
packaging systems, plant layout, and operational planning.
JBS
owns XL Foods of Brooks, Alta., Canada’s second-largest beef-slaughtering
plant.
On Aug. 1, Cargill says in the
complaint, it learned that Kuan took a job with JBS USA, and that on or about
Aug. 6, JBS announced that Kuan would head up JBS’s new case ready division.
“Kuan’s use of Cargill Case Ready’s
highly confidential and proprietary information would allow him to reap an
unfair and unlawful advantage over Cargill,” the lawsuit says.
“Kuan should not be permitted to keep,
duplicate or in any manner use the highly confidential proprietary information
siphoned from Cargill Case Ready for his benefit or that of his new employer.”
Cargill is asking a judge to enjoin Kuan’s
use of the information and award damages to be determined at trial.
The suit does not name JBS USA as a
defendant.
