Many people think poorly of used car salesmen because of their aggressive and predatory sales techniques. One luxury car dealership in St. Louis thinks poorly of Daniel Baker, a salesman who used to work for the dealership, for other reasons.
On April 7th, St. Louis Motorsports filed suit against Mr. Baker in St. Louis County Circuit Court, alleging that he violated a non-compete and confidentiality agreement and misappropriated the dealership’s trade secrets.
St. Louis Motorsports sells new Bentleys, Lamborghinis, and other high-end vehicles. Mr. Baker was terminated from St. Louis Motorsports in November 2009. In its lawsuit, St. Louis Motorsports claims that Mr. Baker illegally obtained a copy of its customer list after he was terminated. The dealership claims it spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing and populating this customer list with information that is not available publicly.
The dealership alleges Mr. Baker then used the list to start a competing high-end, used car dealership: Exotic Motors Midwest. Mr. Baker is the President of Exotic Motors Midwest, which is located three miles from St. Louis Motorsports.
While the merits of St. Louis Motorsports’ claims against Mr. Baker have not yet been adjudicated, it appears Mr. Baker may have given used car salesmen a bad name for reasons other than their relentless sales tactics.
Neal Weinrich knows noncompetes and trade secrets inside and out. A shareholder at Berman Fink Van Horn, Neal counsels clients in all industries on matters involving restrictive covenants, trade secrets and other competition-related issues.
