Comparative advertising: When ex-staff steal clients by defaming you

When ex-staff steal clients by defaming you. FILE PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK

I have a tour company that targets tourists from Europe. My strategy was to engage in aggressive marketing campaigns in Europe. This entailed hosting networking events in major capital cities.

As a result of my aggressive campaigns, I was able to make a lot of contacts and get a lot of work. I had employed a personal assistant in Kenya with whom I shared everything including the client contacts I had made.

One day while going through official emails, I found out that my employee had been emailing the clients using the contacts from our CRM platform and letting them know that he would soon be opening a bigger company.

He also told my clients falsehoods about my company and that I am a thief who overcharges, that my company is under investigation for human trafficking and other shocking falsehoods.

Later on, he opened his company and on the “why us” page on his website he went ahead to compare his company to mine.

I suffered a lot of losses and my reputation is spoilt. Cathy, help me before I slip into depression. Is there any legal redress? Steve

Dear Steve, this must be so hard for you! Do not slip into depression as there is a lot of hope for you and your business.

Before I highlight your legal redresses, I start by saying it is perfectly legal for a former staff to open up their own business.

However, the appalling manner in which your former employee went about it is definitely actionable. Steve, you have many recovery options. There are several lawsuits you can pursue and I would say file all of them.

One is a lawsuit under employment laws. The first ground is a breach of confidentiality. The client database you worked so hard to build is company information and shouldn’t be shared with third parties without authority.

The second wrong is the defamatory lies he spoke against your business as an employee. Here is where you can nail him Steve because he will end up paying you a lot of general damages.

You can even get a court order compelling him to issue a public apology and retract his falsehoods in the same manner that he circulated them.

The second lawsuit is against his company. You can sue for defamation as above. In the lawsuit you can get a court order, ordering him to take down the falsehoods from the website.

After that, you can get another court order stopping him from spoiling your name and finally sue his company for general damages.

As you can see Steve, there are many options for legal redress. I want to clarify that you have a case against him as an individual and also a case against his company.

To prepare for these cases, you need to put together your evidence. First is the employment contract and any evidence of the false communications he made to clients while under your employment.

You have mentioned that the client database is contained in your CRM system so this should also be produced.

You need to keep any evidence of business lost as a result. The court may award you specific losses or award general damages for losses. Take a good screenshot of the defamatory website as evidence.

I believe these remedial actions will save your business and get you back on your feet!

Ms Mputhia is the founder of C Mputhia Advocates | [email protected]