Standard Register Co. Drops Lawsuit Against Two Former Employees

By Elise Hacking Carr

Standard Register Co. has settled a lawsuit with Craig Stockmal and Lynn Smith, two former employees who launched a similar company called Focus Impressions Inc., located in the Boston area. The case was set to go to trial on Aug. 20.

According to court papers filed last Thursday, Stockmal and Smith agreed not to contact Liberty Mutual Group through the end of September as part of the deal. The insurer is the "key customer" at the center of the dispute, reported Dayton Business Journal. Coincidentally, Deb Taylor, current CEO of Minnesota-based Taylor Corp., Standard Register Co.'s new owner, held finance and accounting positions at Liberty Mutual until 2011, the newspaper added. Stockmal and Smith also agreed to return or destroy all confidential information that belonged to Standard Register.

The suit, filed June 29 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, accused Stockmal and Smith of breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets, among other counts. The accused pair denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that Focus Impressions isn't a direct competitor and that old employment contracts are invalid.

David Rich, an attorney with Boston-based Todd & Weld LLP, who represented Stockmal and Smith, gave the following statement to the Dayton Business Journal:

"From the beginning, Mr. Stockmal and Ms. Smith have maintained that the claims asserted against them by Standard Register were without merit. The parties' settlement, which effectively precludes my clients from contracting with a single Standard Register customer for the next six weeks, bears this fact out. Now that the litigation is behind them, Mr. Stockmal and Ms. Smith look forward to the imminent launch of their proprietary marketing software, FocusPoint."

Standard Register and Taylor Corp. have yet to comment.