N.Y. Shop Owner Sues, Claiming Business was Pirated

Jan. 9, 2019—Gregory Beobide, owner of Ultimate Auto Body Inc., in New York state, recently sued Ethos Auto Body LLC in Westchester County, N.Y. and co-owners Matthew Beobide and Dan Zimdahl for $1 million on Dec. 20, reported West Fair Online.

While Ethos’ co-owners still worked for Ultimate, they were misappropriating “as much confidential and proprietary information as possible,” Gregory Beobide says in an affidavit, to “minimize their own costs in developing their new shop.”

Gregory Beobide claims that his nephew contacted Assured Performance Network, a certification company, and represented his uncle as a co-owner of Ethos, according to the complaint, to transfer original equipment manufacturer certificates to the new business. Then he took the OEM plaques. He claims his nephew pirated Ultimate’s social media sites, listing his own cellphone number as the contact number on Google Business and Yelp and taking the Facebook page off line.

Matthew Beobide declined to discuss the lawsuit and referred inquiries to Ronald G. Crispi, his attorney. Crispi was not available to comment, according to the report.

Matthew Beobide worked for Ultimate for 13 years and managed the Bedford Hills shop. Zimdahl worked for Ultimate for four years and managed the Mount Vernon shop.