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Vancouver tech firm Maximizer sues ex-employee and Sales Force competitor that hired him – Vancouver Sun


The B.C. Supreme Court in downtown Vancouver.


The B.C. Supreme Court in Downtown Vancouver.


Mark van Manen / PNG

Vancouver-based software firm Maximizer Services Inc. is suing a former executive and his new employer, tech giant Salesforce, after the executive allegedly jumped ship to the competitor less than a year after starting his job.

Maximizer hired Jeff Propp as its head of sales starting April 2, 2018, trained the experienced sales executive in the particulars of the company’s product, customer relationship management software, and put him in a position of leadership, according to the firm’s statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court.

Less than a year later, however, Propp quit to take a job with Salesforce, a dominant competitor in the CRM field, failing to give adequate notice, contrary to his employment contract with Maximizer, and violating the document’s non-compete clause, according to the statement of claim.

And Maximizer alleges Salesforce “knowingly caused Propp’s breaches” of his contract in poaching him from the firm before the expiry of the six-month, non compete period specified in his contract, according to the statement.

Maximizer is seeking general damages from Propp, “restitutionary damages” from Salesforce for profits earned from confidential information gleaned through Propp’s alleged breaches of his contract and an order declaring that their former head-of-sales must comply with proprietary property and confidentiality obligations written into his contract.

“The Salesforce defendants tortuously induced Propp to breach the contractual obligations when the Salesforce defendants knew that Propp owed the contractual obligations to Maximizer,” the statement of claim reads.

In the statement, Maximizer claims that while Propp was an experienced sales executive in the technology sector, he was new to customer relationship management and that it is unlikely that Salesforce would have recruited him without the training and experience he had gained with the firm.

Propp tendered his resignation March 29, effective April 11, giving just two weeks’ notice when his contract specified at least one-month notice was required, according to the statement of claim.

And the statement alleges the timing of Propp’s departure was specific so he could attend Salesforce’s regional sales meeting, though the non-compete terms of his contract with Maximizer should have precluded him from starting work there before October.

Maximizer further alleges Propp breached terms of his contract by refusing to help Maximizer with “transitional issues” caused by his departure, preventing the timely completion of sales and creating a “crisis of morale” within the firm.

“Maximizer has suffered loss and damage as a consequence of Propp’s breaches of the contractual obligations and the Salesforce defendants have profited from Propp’s breaches of the contractual obligations.”

A statement of defence has not been filed in the case and none of the claims have been proven in court. Neither Propp nor Maximizer CEO Vivek Thomas responded to calls from Postmedia News seeking comment.

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