“I AM A LEVEL II EPL LITIGATION MANAGER AT CHUBB.  SOME SAY MY SUCCESS  DEPENDS ON RUINING HARD-WORKING PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN WRONGFULLY TERMINATED.  I AM A HOOT AT DINNER PARTIES”

LITIGATION MANAGEMENT GUIDES ENCOURAGES AGGRESSION, COUNTERCLAIMS

I was fired for protecting Digital Realty. I had just been extended 2 more years in Singapore and felt it was safe to go about discreetly solving issues before they progressed much further. Eventually I turned to an SVP in San Francisco. Someone leaked my reporting to my manager and things just went off the rails from there.

My last day was April 9, 2014 but in fact I was not able to permanently leave the island for 80 days due to Digital’s screw-up on my taxes. Fast forward two years and I found out that Digital gave over control of my career and reputation to complete strangers. In New Jersey. Some insurance adjuster named “Brian” sits at a set of dashboards all day talking to lawyers and tweaking outcomes and assumptions as to when I will give up., the modern day voodoo doll and makes adjustments based upon proprietary data with one objective;  to pay out the smallest claim possible while disregarding the consequences to the employee.  Its called EPL, employment practices liability insurance. EPL protects the company against lawsuits. Great, but who is going to protect the employees from the world’s largest insurance company? It’s amazing no one knows about this insurance  product.  As soon as you mention legal steps of any kind, your situation is uploaded to a portal and bingo, you are now the insurance companies problem. They replace the companies attorneys with their own law firms. The law firm of Seyfarth Shaw was imposed on Digital by Chubb to handle my lawsuit. Chubb essentially wants law firms who are trained in the ways which have been proven most effective in squashing former employees.

In their litigation manuals they direct their selected “panel counsel” to be aggressive and consider counter claims. Seyfarth did as told but since they had no material to work with, they made stuff up. What is surprising is that they filed their false claims in federal court. These are a problem because not only are they defamatory and therefore damaging to my reputation, it costs a great deal of money to defend against them. All money that Digital/Chubb will be required to reimburse me for plus interest, should I be successful.

Let’s look at an example of Defamation with respect to Digital’s counterclaims:

What is Defamation?

Individual: Defamation is the act of making untrue statements about another which damages his/her reputation
Business: For a company to prove defamation they have to prove special damages; including the loss of particular customers or a general reduction of business. Digital must also be prepared to show that these special damages were the direct result of the false publication.

Example #1:

From Digital’s claim:”Paul Somers stated in an email to Digital’s accountant, Deloitte: “Apologies on behalf of my former employer.”

How will Digital prove defamation based on the above statement? Which customers did Digital lose as a result of this statement? How was there a general decline in sales? The email went to Deloitte. Is Deloitte republishing my statements to existing and potential customers? That’s a problem! I look forward to the day that Seyfarth will try to convince the Judge that they lost customers or business as a result of that statement. It should prove to be an interesting 35 seconds in court. This example alone proves how desperate the Digital Realty is and how badly they wish to damage me by filing false claims in federal court. Besides being transparent and well, stupid, it has cost me money and is a waste of the federal government’s time and resources.
Example #2:

Again, how is it defamation if it is true?

Ellen Jacobs email to Somers, April 28, 2014: “With respect to your inquiry about the Tax Clearance issue, while it is our current understanding that you do not need Tax Clearance because you are paid in the U.S., we are working to confirm this information and will provide you with additional information next week”

I alerted Digital that they had failed to adhere to Singapore law and engage in the Tax Clearance process. When an expat works overseas, the host country requires you pay income tax. Why would Singapore be an exception to that? The above email hints at how poorly Digital was prepared with respect to is global employees.

From Digital’s claim: “In an email dated May 1, 2014, Somers wrote to Richard Leach stating that he head of HR doesn’t seem to be aware that they pay my IRAS taxes so no advanced thought there.”

Again, the statement is true so how is it defamatory? It isn’t. It’s just a desperate Defendant showing how far they will go to damage me. You can see how the Digital/Chubb’s retaliation is never-ending and never enough.

Exposed for what they are, Digital/Chubb’s retaliation via counterclaims fall flat. What are the repercussions to Digital for attempting to fool the court?

“(CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE SECTION 128-130) A trial court may order a party, the party’s attorney,or both to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, incurred by another party as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay. “Frivolous” means totally and completely without merit or for the sole purpose of harassing an opposing party.”

More important than that even is it shows the judge the defendant’s true motives.  Seyfarth creates loud diversions away from the scene of the crime while the “cleaners” go in and remove all traces of evidence.  Like in Pulp Fiction.