Deposition of former employee opposed by CPA Global
In June this year, lawyers representing Polymer Solutions International, Inc filed an application with the US District Court of Maryland seeking to depose a former CPA Global employee in relation to claims of unauthorised charging for renewals payment services to be brought in the Island of Jersey, where CPA Global has its headquarters. The order was granted and CPA Global promptly intervened seeking to quash the order. If you have access to PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) you can search using the case number 8:18-cv-01864-DKC.
1782
US law allows for discovery orders to be made in relation to proceedings to be brought outside the US under what is called a ‘Section 1782’ procedure. This is not the first time a procedure has been instigated to obtain evidence from former CPA Global employees. In the US class action against CPA Global (see my earlier posts), also pursuing claims of unauthorised charging, an application was filed on 19 January 2017 seeking assistance from the English Courts in obtaining testimony from nine former CPA employees. This application was not pursued further as the case was settled the following month.
Stop the tide
CPA Global is throwing everything it has at the present 1782 process and doing its utmost to prevent evidence being taken from its former employee. There is plenty of fun to be had for the lawyers and countless hours will be spent arguing what are doubtless very interesting points of law. The arguments advanced by CPA Global include assertions that the former employee doesn’t have any relevant knowledge; and yet it is doing all it can to prevent him being deposed. Is it unfair to speculate that CPA Global doesn’t want any of its former employees giving evidence for fear of what they will say?
Set for another fall?
CPA Global has, one imagines, deep pockets and so can afford to throw money at stopping this discovery. It did the same when it tried to stop the Kobre & Kim law firm from using the domain https://cpaglobal-litigation.com, though that didn’t turn out well (see my post). The present proceedings could go to appeal and I suspect CPA Global will keep up the fight for as long as process allows.
Business as usual
Meanwhile, CPA Global continues to charge fees for renewal payment services that are, based on comparative data I have seen, vastly more than any of its major competitors; including applying foreign exchange mark-ups to Official Fees that are commonly between 20% and 50%! With its patent renewals business reported to be 70% of CPA Global’s revenues, and with reported debt funding of £1.7bn to support, it can hardly afford to reduce charges.
If you are using CPA Global to pay your renewals, then I strongly recommend you ask to see its tariff of charges. What you will then also see, unless you have been made an exception, is that it also charges ‘Country Fees’ that, unlike any other competitor I know of, increase with each annuity year. It is time that CPA Global clients woke up to the reality of its charging practices.