ERIE – A Wilmerding corporation and its subsidiary allege a former employee misappropriated trade secrets.
Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp., doing business as Wabtec Corp., and Wabtec Railway Electronics Inc., filed a complaint on Aug. 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Michael Bratcher alleging breach of contract and other counts.
According to the complaint, the defendant is the former vice president of the plaintiff's signal and train management solutions team. The plaintiff alleges that the defendant formed Railway Innovative Solutions in October 2016 before leaving his employment with the plaintiff and was forwarding Wabtec emails to his personal email account.
The plaintiffs hold Bratcher responsible because they allege that Wabtec has sustained damages and suffered irreparable injury because of the defendant's actions.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek enjoin the defendant, order the defendant to return all records, documents and information that belongs to the plaintiff, disgorgement of all profits, damages, exemplary damages, court costs, interest and any further relief the court grants. They are represented by Thomas E. Birsic and Curtis B. Krasik of K&L Gates LLP in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Case number 2:17-cv-01029-CB