PHILADELPHIA – A New Jersey resident is accused of stealing proprietary information from her former commercial property and casualty insurance company employer.
Zurich American Insurance Co. filed a complaint on Aug. 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Mahshameen Ahmad and Crum & Forster Holdings Corp. citing the Defend Trade Secrets Act.
According to the complaint, Ahmad resigned her employment with the plaintiff in June and is now senior vice president with Crum & Forster Holdings. The plaintiff alleges that two weeks before she resigned, Ahmad took photos of multiple PowerPoint slides on her personal cellphone and emailed them to her personal email. It alleges that these slides contained proprietary information presented during a closed-door meeting.
The plaintiff holds Ahmad and Crum & Forster Holdings Corp. responsible because Crum & Forster Holdings has used the plaintiff's proprietary information acquired by Ahmad.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks injunctive relief, actual damages, statutory damages, exemplary and punitive damages, interest, court costs and any further relief the court grants. It is represented by John E. MacDonald and Anjanette Cabrera of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 2:17-cv-03506-JHS