A letter to Joshua A. Mills, SVP and General Counsel, Digital Realty:

Though we’ve never met, you know me as the Plaintiff in Paul Somers v. Digital Realty and Ellen Jacobs.  You should know I recently recovered a long-lost recording made on my iPhone 5 in 2014.  The recording proves that Digital Realty senior officers have been involved in some very sordid and illegal activity.   It’s the kind of activity considered to be “vile and reprehensible” by the courts in assessing damages in employment disputes.

There are now three recordings.  Number 3 proves what I have been saying all along; my former manager, SVP Kris Kumar, and the former SVP of Human Resources, Ellen Jacobs, were in cahoots on my illegal termination. The latest recording proves the important causal link from reporting to termination.

If you recall, in December 2013, I discreetly reported Mr. Kumar for shareholder fraud and violations of Title VII.  Ms. Jacobs was informed of the reporting and, in violation of US securities laws, disclosed my identity to Kumar in February 2014.  She also provided him with a copy of the memo I had written describing the illegal activities occurring in Asia Pacific.  Weeks later, evidence shows that Kumar began setting me up to be fired.   The recording provides the statements needed to avoid any doubt that retaliation or revenge is the reason my employment was terminated, not for the false reasons Digital has represented.

If your outside counsel hasn’t yet told you, all of the excuses used to terminate my employment were entirely fabricated by Kumar.  Each allegation has been proven false.

With the recovered recording, we now have the causal link to the retaliation. Should Digital Realty continue to repeat Kumar’s false allegations, they may be sliding down a rather slippery slope.  The causal link proves the malice to defeat qualified privilege opening the door for damages for the falsified performance issues used as the excuse for the illegal termination.  Statements on the recording also prove that disparate treatment was alive and well at  Digital Realty, a factor that contributed to the illegal termination.

Judges and juries are not kind to companies who intentionally damage employees.  AutoZone recently cut check for $185,000,000 to a former cashier in San Diego who was fired for being pregnant.  California courts have generally found punitive damages at  10-15 percent of a defendant’s net worth to be acceptable.

In Digital’s case, given the relentless, contemptible and vile attack on me, a jury will likely find punitive damages are also in order.  As we head into the fifth year of litigation, the wonder of compound interest will begin to accelerate punitive and other damages exponentially.

Josh, it’s time you took back control of Digital’s legal strategy now in the hands of a disreputable law firm.  I encourage you to roll up your sleeves and do, for example, an honest search for documents requested 2.5 years ago.   I suggest you start by personally overseeing a search for all correspondence between Kumar, Jacobs and Sarah Schubert pertaining to Paul Somers from November 1, 2013, to present.  To date, none of their correspondence leading up to the termination has been provided but for one administrative email.  Your outside counsel is withholding the rest to protect Chubb’s profits.  Your failure to disclose also puts you in violation of US discovery laws which are laws of the United States.  As a result, you are also violating your Code of Conduct, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the New York Stock Exchange Member Rules.  You failed to obtain required waivers for these violations which you must be held accountable for.

Digital Realty was once a trusted name in the data center industry.  Under your watch, the DLR brand is in decline.  Digital’s Supreme Court efforts to make this country a “Nation of Retaliation” has many customers and investors scratching their heads.  Digital employees are fearful along with millions of others that may be affected by your efforts. It will likely catapult Bill Stein front and center as one of the most loathed CEOs in the country.  For all of these reasons, Digital may now be a less attractive place to work.

Finally, you have directed your lawyers to do some very sordid things over the years but none as low as when you recently attacked the good names of my deceased parents.  Disclosing personal health information about my parents into the public domain, which you obtained from very private communications, is unforgivable and illegal.  There is no reason for a public company to resort to such a tactic.  My family and I were shocked and saddened to read that you had leaked that information in an attempt to harm me in some way.  You may wish to reflect upon your behavior and do some soul-searching as the purported moral compass of Digital Realty and ask yourself if you have what it takes to be in your current role.

Sincerely,

Paul Somers

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NEXT UP:  BITTERSWEET MEMORIES OF MY SECRET AFFAIR WITH THE FOUNDER OF DIGITAL REALTY.

ON DECK:  FALSIFIED, FORGED, AND FILED.  DIGITAL’S LAWYERS COMMIT A FELONY IN COURT IN AN ATTEMPT TO WITHHOLD DOCUMENTS.