Summary: With irrefutable evidence against the CEO of Multiband, he still attempted to sue Goodman Networks for his termination.
Within a week the legal team for the San Antonio-based wireless communication design and services company Goodman Networks has produced 35 pages of evidence to support the termination of the CEO from their recently acquired company Multiband Corp.
Goodman bought the Minneapolis based Multiband Corp two years ago during the summer of 2013. Goodman kept the CEO, James Mandel, during the acquisition of the company and signed him to a three year contract.
A year later, Goodman CEO Ron Hill, was receiving inquiries from investment banking groups interested in buying Multiband. Under the direction of general counsel Skip Hulett and assistant general counsel Shakeeb Mir, the legal team got to work investigating the source of the inquiries. They produced 35 pages of emails from Mandel reaching out to investors with private data on Multiband’s finances and customer contact information. Goodman selected Thomas Mahlum of Robins Kaplan to represent them in court.
On the same day that the legal team gave Goodman the report, DIRECTV came forward details that Mandel had approached the bankers and urged them to go to DIRECTV to earn more support for the sale. DIRECTV is the top client for Multiband.
With this new information, Hill went to the Goodman Board and recommended an immediate termination of Mandel with cause. Mandel took the firing to court, claiming a breach of contract and firing without adequate cause. He sought compensation for lost salary, annual bonus, and stock options, as well as defamation. He was represented by Mark Briol of Briol Associates.
Assistant Chief Judge Ivy Bernhardson easily dismissed the lawsuit, stating that there was “uncontroverted evidence revealed through discovery showing that Mandel contacted the senior vice president of DIRECTV to express concerns about the company and Goodman’s management and to encourage him to influence Goodman to sell Multiband…and that he took steps to prevent Goodman from discovering his involvement in the process.” The Judge said it was not difficult to conclude that Mandel was behaving dishonestly and disloyally. She wouldn’t expect anything other than him to be fired.
Source: http://www.corpcounsel.com/home/id=1202731982892
Photo: ajga.org