ALLEGHENY – The owner of a local locksmith business is suing M&N Locksmith Co. on counts of alleged interference of prospective contracts and unfair competition after M&N allegedly replaced its local listing information on Google.
Robert Tegge of A-1 Rudy Lock and Safe filed a lawsuit Feb. 25 in the Common Pleas Court of Allegheny County against M&N Locksmith Co. for allegedly stealing his Google listing and replacing it with his information in an attempt to gain more business traffic.
“M&N, by hijacking A-1 's local listing, has been illicitly diverting business away from A-1 for several years,” Christina McKinley, the lawyer representing Tegge, wrote. “Since 2017, A-1 has experienced a decline in locksmith services contracts generated through its local listing.
"Sometime in 2019, A-1 discovered that the incorrect local listing had not been a harmless error, but a deliberate act by one of its competitors in the Pittsburgh area to hijack A-1 's local listing and trick potential customers into thinking they would be contracting with A-1 for locksmith services.”
Tegge is seeking compensation for loss of revenue sustained because of the alleged wrongdoing of the defendant, a permanent injunction against the defendant, and the compensation for any and all attorney’s fees.