What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois
To keep this confidential, I will use substitute names for the company's a people referenced.
In April of 2007, I was laid off from Company A, a company I had worked at for 4+ years with no issues. I was paid a severance and honored my non-compete for the full term of the agreement (1 year).
In June 2008, I accepted a sales position at Company B (a competing firm).
In January of 2009, I handed in my resignation to Company B effective immediately. I was offered a position back at Company A in a different role (pure sales) and accepted.
Shortly after leaving, I received a phone call from Rick, my new manager at Company A, stating that Eric, my previous manager at Company B, had been making numerous phone calls to my new company's HR department claiming that I "had a non-compete agreement" and that when I worked at Company B, I had "imported customer lists from Company A into Company B's corporate database of clients", which I did not. I did e-mail several former clients of Company A while at Company B but did not use a "list from their database" nor was it ever imported into Company B's database.
Fortunately, Company A really likes me and didn't believe any of this but I am still upset at the great lengths Eric took to try and slander my name and cause problems for me.
In addition, while this will be cross-posted in the internet law forum, Eric used my previous laptop to gain access to my personal hotmail account, changed the password and name, proceeded to read several of my personal e-mails, and sent an e-mail to Rick on my behalf insinuating that I cheated on a drug test to get the job I have now at Company A. How do I know it was Eric?
#1 I was locked out of my e-mail after handing in my laptop to Eric at Company B.
#2 I immediately contacted hotmail "live" services to remediate the issue.
#3 Upon proving my identity to hotmail, I regained access to my account to find that an alternative e-mail address was added as my old work e-mail from Company B (I never did this).
#4 I found a sent item that was sent to Rick from my account during the time I did not have access.
I asked Hotmail to provide me with the IP address of the user accessing the account while I was locked out, but they stated that due to their privacy statement, they will only provide that information when under a subpoena. I am confident that if pursued legally, Hotmail will reveal that the IP address either
A) Belongs to Company B's offices
or
B) Belongs to Eric's personal internet connection
My questions are as follows:
1) Do I have a case at all? If so, is it against Company B, or just Eric?
2) What next steps should I take?
3) How costly and time-consuming will the legal process be?
4) What other information should I know before pursuing this further?
I would appreciate any assistance that can be provided as this has left me extremely upset. Thank you.
To keep this confidential, I will use substitute names for the company's a people referenced.
In April of 2007, I was laid off from Company A, a company I had worked at for 4+ years with no issues. I was paid a severance and honored my non-compete for the full term of the agreement (1 year).
In June 2008, I accepted a sales position at Company B (a competing firm).
In January of 2009, I handed in my resignation to Company B effective immediately. I was offered a position back at Company A in a different role (pure sales) and accepted.
Shortly after leaving, I received a phone call from Rick, my new manager at Company A, stating that Eric, my previous manager at Company B, had been making numerous phone calls to my new company's HR department claiming that I "had a non-compete agreement" and that when I worked at Company B, I had "imported customer lists from Company A into Company B's corporate database of clients", which I did not. I did e-mail several former clients of Company A while at Company B but did not use a "list from their database" nor was it ever imported into Company B's database.
Fortunately, Company A really likes me and didn't believe any of this but I am still upset at the great lengths Eric took to try and slander my name and cause problems for me.
In addition, while this will be cross-posted in the internet law forum, Eric used my previous laptop to gain access to my personal hotmail account, changed the password and name, proceeded to read several of my personal e-mails, and sent an e-mail to Rick on my behalf insinuating that I cheated on a drug test to get the job I have now at Company A. How do I know it was Eric?
#1 I was locked out of my e-mail after handing in my laptop to Eric at Company B.
#2 I immediately contacted hotmail "live" services to remediate the issue.
#3 Upon proving my identity to hotmail, I regained access to my account to find that an alternative e-mail address was added as my old work e-mail from Company B (I never did this).
#4 I found a sent item that was sent to Rick from my account during the time I did not have access.
I asked Hotmail to provide me with the IP address of the user accessing the account while I was locked out, but they stated that due to their privacy statement, they will only provide that information when under a subpoena. I am confident that if pursued legally, Hotmail will reveal that the IP address either
A) Belongs to Company B's offices
or
B) Belongs to Eric's personal internet connection
My questions are as follows:
1) Do I have a case at all? If so, is it against Company B, or just Eric?
2) What next steps should I take?
3) How costly and time-consuming will the legal process be?
4) What other information should I know before pursuing this further?
I would appreciate any assistance that can be provided as this has left me extremely upset. Thank you.