Court Denies Acara's Motion to Dismiss System One's Tempnapping Case

Injunction Hearing Scheduled

In unusually rapid fashion, U.S. District Court Judge Maryland Horan has denied Acara Solutions' request for dismissal of System One's "tempnapping" lawsuit filed last month in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit (attached below) seeks to prevent Acara from hiring 200 System One workers on assignment at its client Alstom Transportation. As previously reported, the case arises out of Alstom's attempt to switch staffing vendors while keeping the assigned workers on the job, only now working for the successor vendor.

In allowing the lawsuit to proceed, the Court held:

Here, careful review of the Complaint reveals System One’s claims are based upon Acara’s alleged actions of obtaining, utilizing, and misappropriating System One’s confidential Trade Secret Information and interfering with System One’s contractual relationships. Such allegations are sufficient to establish an action by Acara in support of System One’s claims. Therefore, System One’s Complaint sufficiently supports its standing against Acara.

As for Acar's argument that System One should have sued its client Alstom, the Court ruled:

Here, System One does not allege any contractual claims against Acara. Instead, the Complaint supports that it was Acara’s own alleged improper actions, by obtaining and utilizing System One’s confidential Trade Secret Information, tortiously interfering with the contractual relationships between System One and Alstom, and tortiously interfering with the contractual relationships between System One and System One’s employees. Such actions do not depend on the presence of either Alstom or the employees placed at Alstom.

The Court also denied Acara's motion to transfer the case to New York. A hearing on System One's request for an injunction against Acara is scheduled for March 29, 2024. Stay tuned.