A Wyoming town, its mayor and its attorney asked a judge Friday to dismiss a Virgin-Islands-based bank’s accusations that they helped another company steal the bank’s intellectual property.
Town leaders say the $350 million lawsuit over trade secrets is invalid because it ignores important laws and logic.
Eastern Point Trust Co. (EPTC) sued the town of Glenrock, its mayor Bruce Roumell, town attorney Amy Iberlin and another dozen entities in October.
The lawsuit stems from a private investigation that examined the activities of Colorado-based Flatirons Bank. Both banks are involved in establishing accounts that distribute payments from lawsuit settlements, known as Qualified Settlement Funds (QSF).
EPTC’s lawsuit claims a group of its former clients conspired to create their own QSF platform for Flatirons Bank, based on EPTC’s proprietary software. The platform in question was called Justice Escrow.
Iberlin connected towns she represents with Justice Escrow, EPTC’s lawsuit alleges. It also says Roumell knew or should have known the platform’s programming was taken from Eastern Point.
Glenrock officials said previously that the lawsuit is an attempt to bully a small Wyoming town.
Nope, Says Glenrock
The town of Glenrock, Roumell, and Iberlin filed a motion Friday, asking the Virginia-based federal court to dismiss the claims against them.
They assert that Eastern Point Trust Co. didn’t show real connections between them and people or events in Virginia, it didn’t follow the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (the state’s manual for suing governmental entities), and the bank’s claims against them are too tenuous to carry the laws it invokes.
“Here the allegations are limited to bald assertions of conspiracy,” wrote Virginia-based attorney Benjamin Adler in Glenrock’s Friday filing.
“A single paragraph alleges that Glenrock and Mayor Roumell received information that they should have known was misappropriated,” the filing says, adding that the allegations lack specificity.
Many hinge upon “information and belief,” wrote Adler.
“There are no facts alleged as to how Iberlin knew the information was a trade secret,” he continued. “No facts showing the alleged trade secrets were actually used by Glenrock and nothing but insinuation linking Iberlin’s conduct to any broader conspiracy.”
Adler added, “These Defendants are left to guess what their alleged wrongful conduct was.”
Meanwhile In Wyoming
While Eastern Point sues Flatirons alongside Glenrock in this Virginia-based case, Flatirons is also suing Eastern Point in the federal U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
Flatirons’ Wyoming lawsuit accuses Eastern Point of anticompetitive practice and launching an “aggressive, unlawful campaign against Flatirons” to stifle its Qualified Settlement Fund business, steal its market share and target its clients.
Eastern Point Trust Co. attorney Caleb Wilkins of Cheyenne-based Coal Creek Law fired back in a Nov. 3 filing accusing Flatirons of launching its Wyoming lawsuit just to head off Eastern Point’s claims, which it was anticipating.
“A comparison of the Virginia Litigation and Flatirons’ (Wyoming) suit reveals Flatirons’ clear intent: to win a race to the courthouse,” wrote Wilkins. “This tactic is defensive and declaratory in nature, and the Court should dismiss all claims.”
Both cases are ongoing.
‘Some Meat On The Bone’
Wilkins told Cowboy State Daily in October that EPTC is a “pioneer” in its industry, offering its services to municipalities.
“They have a rigorous audit process and, by all accounts, they really do seem to try and do it the right way and go the extra mile and have been rewarded for their diligence,” Wilkins said at the time.
He said EPTC contacted him about a year ago with concerns its intellectual property was being stolen through a relationship between Flatirons and Lovell, Wyoming.
Through a series of public records requests and the assistance of a private investigator, Wilkins said he determined such concerns had “some meat on the bone.”
While the Lovell deal fell through in February, further investigation revealed Flatirons was in talks with Evansville, Casper, and Glenrock, Wilkins said. He said each of these cities were represented by Iberlin, which prompted public records requests to learn the extent of the cities’ involvement with Flatirons.
“Answers were not necessarily timely nor complete,” Wilkins said of the responses to his requests. “Even a disinterested observer could very well reach the conclusion that the [response] was intended to make it look like Glenrock was not doing business with Flatirons.”
Through this process, Wilkins said he discovered that Justice Escrow was using documents and workflows which were identical to the ones used by EPTC.
These materials even had EPTC bank account numbers and branding on them, which he said gives validity to the intellectual property theft concerns.
“I certainly feel that it’s a good faith complaint,” he said. “It appears to have all the merits there in writing.”
What Did We Even Do Wrong?
Iberlin countered, telling Cowboy State Daily in October that she only recently became aware of the opportunity to participate in the QSF program when she was approached by a member of Flatirons Bank.
“I didn’t even know what the hell a QSF meant until July of this year,” she said. “As a result of that conversation, I put the people in touch that needed to be in touch with my town’s people.”
Iberlin denied having any further involvement in the situation, other than facilitating a meeting of the two parties.
She said she was confused when she received a letter from EPTC demanding she provide them with documents and materials in connection to the lawsuit.
“I couldn’t even articulate what the claims were against me,” she said. “I called the lawyer that I know down in Cheyenne, Caleb Wilkins, and got on a call with Eastern Point Trust the following week and Caleb and asked them to explain what we did wrong.”
“They basically told me ‘hey, (f***) you if you can’t basically read English, goodbye,’” she said. “Eastern Point Trust Co. is just mad because they made a better product, Flatirons made a better product.”
She accused EPTC of “bullying people” with its lawsuit, which is intended to help maintain hold of its business in Wyoming.
“I can certainly tell you that Bruce Roumell and the town of Glenrock would never do anything wrong and I would never advise them to do anything wrong,” she said.
An October statement from Glenrock and Roumell echoes that:
“This lawsuit is an affront not only to the Town of Glenrock and its representatives but to the principles of fair competition and innovation that drive our economy,” the statement says. "EPTC may believe its corporate power and Virginia-based lawyers can bully a small Wyoming town into submission, but they are sorely mistaken.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
