Commissioning Agents, Inc. v. Long

187 F. Supp. 3d 980, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64585, 2016 WL 2866053
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedMay 17, 2016
DocketCase No. 1:15-cv-00062-TWP-DKL
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 187 F. Supp. 3d 980 (Commissioning Agents, Inc. v. Long) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commissioning Agents, Inc. v. Long, 187 F. Supp. 3d 980, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64585, 2016 WL 2866053 (S.D. Ind. 2016).

Opinion

[983]*983ENTRY DENYING MOTION TO CHANGE VENUE AND LIFTING STAY

TANYA WALTON PRATT, JUDGE

This matter is before the Court on Defendants, Robert G. Long’s (“Mr. Long”) and Mission Critical Commissioning LLC’s Motion for Transfer of Yenue, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). For the reasons stated below, the Court denies the Defendants’ Motion for Transfer (Filing No. 58).

I. BACKGROUND

The facts of this case are set forth in detail in the Court’s October 29, 2015 Entry on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Filing No. 56), and are, therefore, only summarized , in this Order. Plaintiff, Commissioning Agents, Inc. (“CAI”) is a business that provides commissioning services, which include consulting, engineering, and design services to ensure that a building is constructed to fit its intended purpose and operates accordingly. In this lawsuit, CAI brings an array of claims against the Defendants, including: breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties, actual and constructive fraud, tortious interference with business relationship, tortious and criminal conversion, theft and receiving stolen property, unjust enrichment, misappropriation of trade secrets, violations Of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and Indiana’s Corrupt Business Influence Act

According to CAI, while employed for its business, Mr. Long lied to, defrauded, and stole from CAI for the benefit of himself and CAI’s competitors. Specifically, CAI alleges that Mr. Long stole proprietary information and used it on behalf of a competitor, HughGM, worked simultaneously for HughGM without CAI’s knowledge, and used CAI’s proprietary information to steal CAI’s business for HughGM’s benefit. CAI further alleges that HughGM was aware of Mr. Long’s double-dealing and either actively encouraged it or deliberately turned a blind-eye to it. Finally, CAI also alleges that Mr. Long -falsified timesheets and-expense reports that he submitted to CAI, resulting in CAI paying Mr. Long unearned wages and unjustified reimbursements.

A. The Parties

CAI is an Indiana corporation with its principal place of business in Indianapolis, Indiana and runs its accounting, human resources, marketing, administrative, data-management, and technology functions out of Indianapolis. In addition, its senior management, training facilities, and cloud-based information' technology center are all located in Indianapolis.

Mr. Long is a resident of the state of Washington. Other than Mr. Long’s three-day, training in Indianapolis, he has neither visited nor conducted business in Indiana. Mission Critical is a limited liability company, allegedly owned by Mr. Long, organized under the laws of Nevada, and primarily doing business in Washington. Mission Critical also has never conducted any business in Indiana.

HughGM and HughCx are both limited liability companies with their principal places of business in the state of Washington. The sole member of HughGM is George H. Ambum, Jr. (“Mr. Amburn”), a resident and citizen of Colorado, and the sole member of HughCx is HughGM, which is a citizen of Washington. Like CAÍ, HughGM is in the business of providing commissioning services for corporate clients.

B. Mr, Long works concurrently for CÁI and HughGM

On December 10, 2012, Mr. Long began his employment at CAI as a Commissioning Engineer, and was hired to effectuate growth and to service CAI’s existing [984]*984clients in the Pacific Northwest regions. He worked from his home office in Belle-vue, Washington and at on-site client facilities located .in Washington, California, and Ireland.

Mr. Long traveled to Indianapolis for his initial training, where he signed an employment agreement with CAI. By signing the agreement, Mr. Long explicitly acknowledged’ that CATs proprietary information and materials belonged exclusively to CAI. He further promised to keep those materials confidential and not to use them for his own benefit or the benefit of others. Mr. Long personally returned the signed employment agreement to CATs Human Resources- department in Indianapolis.

Mr. Long states that, thereafter, he reported to Mr. Temple,, who resided and was stationed in California. (Filing No. 46-1 at 3.) While acknowledging that he occasionally reported to Mr. Temple, CAI asserts that Mr. Long “was hired by, was fired by, was paid by, was evaluated by, submitted all work expenses to, and submitted all time reports to Indianapolis.” (Filing No. 38 at 6; Filing No. 38-1 at 2-6.) At some point during his employment with CAI, Mr. Long also began working for HughGM.

C, Mr. Long steals CAPs proprietary materials to benefit himself and HughGM

CAI alleges that, during his employment, Mr. Long accessed CATs proprietary materials, which were created and maintained in Indiana, and tunneled them to HughGM. According to CAI, upon accessing CATs proprietary materials, Mr. Long delivered them to Mr. Amburn in order to steal business for HughGM. Mr. Long acquired these materials by pulling them off of CATs databases, which are cloud-based systems managed at CATs Indianapolis headquarters. CAI contends that these proprietary materials are essentially CATs whole business, as they represent years of expertise and experience, toward which CAI has devoted significant resources.

CAI alleges that Mr. Long used its proprietary materials to learn about and to steal business opportunities from CAI. In addition, CAI alleges that Mr. Long regularly used CATs proprietary materials in HughGM bids. Further, CAI alleges that Mr. Long pursued new client leads on behalf of HughGM, despite being paid by CAI to pursue such leads on CATs behalf. Finally, CAI also alleges that Mr. Amburn knew that the materials he received from Mr. Long were stolen from CAI and used them to pursue HughGM business.

D. Mr. Long falsifies CAI employment records

In addition to allegedly stealing proprietary materials and business from CAI on behalf of HughGM, CAI also alleges that Mr. Long lied on several employment forms, resulting in CAI paying Mr. Long unearned salary and travel expenses. For instance, CAI alleges that Mr. Long’s employment application was rife with misrepresentations, including lies about his skills, experience, employment history, and criminal history. According to CAI, these alleged misrepresentations hid the fact that Mr. Long held positions with other commissioning firms and made Mr. Long appear qualified for the job when he was not.

In addition, CAI alleges that Mr. Long sent inaccurate time and expense reports to CATs Indianapolis office. Specifically, according to CAI, Mr. Long sent over eighty fraudulent time reports and at least twenty-two fraudulent expense reports to CATs Indianapolis headquarters, via an online program administered by CATs Business Administrative Group. In doing so, Mr. Long induced CATs business man[985]*985agement staff in Indianapolis to pay him unearned wages and to reimburse him for unspent expense funds out of CATs Indianapolis bank accounts.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

28 U.S.C. § 1404

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187 F. Supp. 3d 980, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64585, 2016 WL 2866053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commissioning-agents-inc-v-long-insd-2016.