rotornut
16th Oct 2004, 19:06
Jetsgo sues WestJet
By ROMA LUCIW
Globe and Mail Update
UPDATED AT 4:43 PM EDT Friday, Oct 15, 2004
Jetsgo Corp. is suing WestJet Airlines Ltd. for $50-million, accusing WestJet of stealing confidential business information and using it to launch "an unlawful campaign with the specific purpose of injuring Jetsgo, its business and reputation."
The claim, filed in an Ontario Supreme Court, is seeking damages for intentional interference with economic relations and civil conspiracy, $25-million for spoliation — the destruction of evidence — and $25-million for punitive and exemplary damages, as well as legal costs.
The lawsuit names Calgary-based WestJet, its president and CEO Clive Beddoe, and co-founder and former vice-president of strategic planning Mark Hill as defendants.
WestJet responded by calling the suit's claims "ill founded" and vowed to mount a vigorous defence.
The Jetsgo lawsuit is the latest twist in the corporate espionage scandal surrounding Canada's airline industry.
Jetsgo confirmed earlier this month that it had received digitally reconstructed copies of shredded documents that it believed contain confidential information about its own operations.
The copies arrived late in September from Air Canada, which has launched its own $220-million lawsuit in April against WestJet, claiming that WestJet and Mr. Hill, who allegedly hacked into an internal Air Canada website, stole confidential information to further WestJet's commercial interests.
Private investigators hired by Air Canada removed shredded documents about Air Canada's operations from the garbage outside Hill's Vancouver Island home, where they also found Jetsgo information, Jetsgo has said.
The Jetsgo lawsuit alleges that in 2003, Mr. Hill, under instruction from Mr. Beddoe, instructed WestJet agents to "to attempt to surreptitiously obtain" confidential Jetsgo information. The information obtained by WestJet included details such as load factors on Jetsgo flights, information Jetsgo described as "highly sensitive," the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, WestJet used the information to determine the profitability of various routes and flight times, to change its own routing, scheduling and fare structure for its own commercial benefit and gain an unfair competitive advantage over Jetsgo by targeting both profitable and vulnerable routes, flight times and fares.
Jetsgo also claims that WestJet used the stolen information in its decision to relocate its Eastern Canadian hub of operations from Hamilton to Toronto in April, 2004.
WestJet also used the data to "impede Jetsgo's access to the capital markets and to injure Jetsgo's reputation in the financial marketplace and with the general public by, among other things, reporting and commenting on Jetsgo's load factors before they became publicly available, presenting the proprietary information to financial analysts to colour their views of Jetsgo and to interfere with Jetsgo's ability to access capital through attempting to undermine Jetsgo's credibility with its financial partners and potential investors."
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
In a separate statement, WestJet denied that any of its actions caused Jetsgo to suffer losses.
"WestJet believes that any losses which Jetsgo may have suffered were self-inflicted through its own mismanagement or were the result of other factors including the threat of terrorist attacks, reduced flying in Canada as a result of SARS and increased fuel prices," the carrier said.
WestJet shares fell 51 cents or 4.1 per cent to $11.99 in Toronto.
By ROMA LUCIW
Globe and Mail Update
UPDATED AT 4:43 PM EDT Friday, Oct 15, 2004
Jetsgo Corp. is suing WestJet Airlines Ltd. for $50-million, accusing WestJet of stealing confidential business information and using it to launch "an unlawful campaign with the specific purpose of injuring Jetsgo, its business and reputation."
The claim, filed in an Ontario Supreme Court, is seeking damages for intentional interference with economic relations and civil conspiracy, $25-million for spoliation — the destruction of evidence — and $25-million for punitive and exemplary damages, as well as legal costs.
The lawsuit names Calgary-based WestJet, its president and CEO Clive Beddoe, and co-founder and former vice-president of strategic planning Mark Hill as defendants.
WestJet responded by calling the suit's claims "ill founded" and vowed to mount a vigorous defence.
The Jetsgo lawsuit is the latest twist in the corporate espionage scandal surrounding Canada's airline industry.
Jetsgo confirmed earlier this month that it had received digitally reconstructed copies of shredded documents that it believed contain confidential information about its own operations.
The copies arrived late in September from Air Canada, which has launched its own $220-million lawsuit in April against WestJet, claiming that WestJet and Mr. Hill, who allegedly hacked into an internal Air Canada website, stole confidential information to further WestJet's commercial interests.
Private investigators hired by Air Canada removed shredded documents about Air Canada's operations from the garbage outside Hill's Vancouver Island home, where they also found Jetsgo information, Jetsgo has said.
The Jetsgo lawsuit alleges that in 2003, Mr. Hill, under instruction from Mr. Beddoe, instructed WestJet agents to "to attempt to surreptitiously obtain" confidential Jetsgo information. The information obtained by WestJet included details such as load factors on Jetsgo flights, information Jetsgo described as "highly sensitive," the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, WestJet used the information to determine the profitability of various routes and flight times, to change its own routing, scheduling and fare structure for its own commercial benefit and gain an unfair competitive advantage over Jetsgo by targeting both profitable and vulnerable routes, flight times and fares.
Jetsgo also claims that WestJet used the stolen information in its decision to relocate its Eastern Canadian hub of operations from Hamilton to Toronto in April, 2004.
WestJet also used the data to "impede Jetsgo's access to the capital markets and to injure Jetsgo's reputation in the financial marketplace and with the general public by, among other things, reporting and commenting on Jetsgo's load factors before they became publicly available, presenting the proprietary information to financial analysts to colour their views of Jetsgo and to interfere with Jetsgo's ability to access capital through attempting to undermine Jetsgo's credibility with its financial partners and potential investors."
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
In a separate statement, WestJet denied that any of its actions caused Jetsgo to suffer losses.
"WestJet believes that any losses which Jetsgo may have suffered were self-inflicted through its own mismanagement or were the result of other factors including the threat of terrorist attacks, reduced flying in Canada as a result of SARS and increased fuel prices," the carrier said.
WestJet shares fell 51 cents or 4.1 per cent to $11.99 in Toronto.