SCRANTON – The owner and sales manager of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership in Poland have both denied that they defamed a former employee after he immigrated to the United States and asserted that they are not subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
Marek Dziadosz of Mount Pocono first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Feb. 10 versus GOC Myszkowski SP.JA WNA (doing business as “GOC Harley-Davidson Rzeszow”, “Game Over Cycles” and “Ego-Light SP.Z.O.O”), Stanislaw Myszkowski and Karol Mika, all of Rzeszow, Poland.
According to the suit, Dziadosz began working at GOC from the inception of the business in Poland in January 2012, developing new departments and business plans, representing the company at trade shows, securing funding, establishing its social media presence and having a significant influence on the decision-making of the company.
“In 2017, plaintiff entered the United States on a visitor visa for a business trip to on behalf of GOC to attend the Harley-Davidson dealer meeting in Los Angeles, Calif. and to attend the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Eventually, plaintiff immigrated to the United States and applied for employment with Harley-Davidson PA,” the suit stated.
“Upon applying for the job and during multiple discussions with Harley-Davidson PA, plaintiff was told he was qualified and a perfect fit for a senior management position developing and operating the e-commerce store for Harley-Davidson PA.”
As the hiring discussions reached their conclusion, an oral agreement was reached by and between Harley-Davidson PA and plaintiff regarding plaintiff’s employment as a senior high-level manager and supervisor with job duties encompassing the creation and modification Harley-Davidson PA’s e-commerce site with the attending salary, commissions, bonuses, staff and other perks.
The process then went to Harley-Davidson PA contacting Dziadosz’s former employers in Poland for a reference.
“In response, on or about March 5, 2020, defendants emailed Harley-Davidson PA a job reference which was filled with untruths, falsehoods and outright lies in a malicious attempt to destroy plaintiff’s job prospects – the very job prospects defendants knew were at stake because of the nature of the email requesting references for an employment position, specifically plaintiff’s negotiated employment and senior level job position,” per the suit.
“As a result of the blatantly false and intentionally tortious nature of defendants’ email, plaintiff was harmed, as he was not able to secure the senior level employment position, the details of which had already been negotiated and agreed to by plaintiff and Harley-Davidson PA.”
The email in question alleged that Dziadosz handcuffed his former employers’ means to conduct online sales, redirected their company phone line to his own private account, changed building security passwords and requested monthly payment from his former employer in order to revert these things back to their original condition.
The plaintiff claimed he was instead forced to accept a position as a low-level hourly worker with “no staff, no office and no resources to ensure success of the e-commerce store”, losing out on he what he argues is at least $2 million in damages as a result of the defendants’ actions.
“Defendants’ unjustifiable negative job reference with in retaliation of plaintiff voluntarily leaving his employment with defendants and moving to the United States to work for a different Harley-Davidson dealership located in Pennsylvania,” the suit stated.
UPDATE
Defendants Myszkowski and Karol Mika each filed motions to dismiss the complaint on May 24, arguing that they did not harm the plaintiff’s professional standing and are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. legal system, since they are Polish nationals who do not conduct business in the United States.
“The defendants do not have any contacts with the State of Pennsylvania, they do not sell or purchase any goods in that state, neither do they advertise nor solicit any business within the territory of the United States of America. The defendants do not display their motorcycles within the territory of the State of Pennsylvania. The defendants do not conduct any business activity in the United States of America,” the dismissal motion stated, in part.
“Plaintiff Marek Dziadosz has never been employed by the defendant company; he was only a contractor rendering services for the defendant company. At the moment when the letter of opinion on the plaintiff was sent to the Pocono Mountain Harley Davidson showroom, plaintiff Marek Dziadosz was neither employed by the defendants, nor was he executing any orders for them. Thus, the defendants are not subject to the jurisdiction of the courts in the United States of America.”
The defendants charge that the plaintiff was one of the only people to have complete access to the B2B system, employee email accounts and computer servers – and thus, allegedly redirected emails and telephone calls to other individuals outside the company. When confronting the plaintiff with that assertion, the plaintiff supposedly requested a continual fee. At that point, the defendants say they ceased all contact with the plaintiff and corrected the flow of information in their company.
“The plaintiff falsely asserts that the defendants continue to devise schemes in order to harm the professional prospects of the plaintiff and ruin his professional career. In reply to the inquiry of the Pocono Mountain Harley Davidson showroom, defendant Karol MIKA issued a letter of opinion on the plaintiff founded on truth. Never before and never afterwards have the defendants been interested in the plaintiff’s situation,” per the dismissal motions.
“The plaintiff falsely asserts that the defendants perceived him as a rival and a threat, so they tried to ruin his professional standing; The defendants have never conducted and are not conducting any business activity within the territory of the United States of America, and the letter of opinion was issued by them only in reply to the inquiry of the Pocono Mountain Harley Davidson showroom.”
The defendants say the plaintiff’s allegations that they communicated to other specialists at Harley Davidson that the plaintiff’s conduct was improper never occurred and that they never gave Pocono Mountain Harley Davidson any assurance pertaining to the alleged employment of the plaintiff.
For counts of intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective contract relations, defamation, commercial disparagement, libel, slander per se, fraud, common law harassment, tortious interference with a prospective economic advantage, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and equitable relief, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, plus interest, costs and such other relief as the Court deems appropriate.
The plaintiff is represented by Darius A. Marzec of Marzec Law Firm, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Defendants Myszkowski and Mika are representing themselves in this matter.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 3:21-cv-00251
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com