The amended complaint reiterates Move’s allegation that “Mr. Kaminski’s unauthorized access to Move’s protected computer systems resulted in costs in excess of $5,000,” and adds more details about those damages. .
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Move this week filed an amended complaint with CoStar Group and former Realtor.com employee James Kamin seeking to address gaps in legal arguments that led to Move’s claims being dismissed in October. It continued its legal battle against Mr. Ski.
The case centers on former Realtor.com News & Insights editor James Kaminsky, who was fired from the company in January.
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Move, in a lawsuit first filed in July, said that after Mr. Kaminsky’s firing, the News & Insights team’s salaries and bonuses, an ongoing list of News & Insights articles on Realtor.com, “2022 It claims to have accessed files belonging to Move, including a presentation of “Year or 2023”. Two other files are saved that contain audience and revenue projections, as well as passwords to third-party subscriptions, WordPress instructions, and staff contact numbers, and this information is shared with competitor Homes.com. It was used for sales promotion. performance.
The amended complaint filed Tuesday includes the same six claims Move Inc. is pursuing against CoStar as in the previous complaint. The two claims previously dismissed by Los Angeles District Court Judge George H. Wu involved alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.
The amended complaint reiterates Move’s allegation that “Mr. Kaminski’s unauthorized access to Move’s protected computer systems resulted in costs in excess of $5,000,” and adds more details about those damages. .
The complaint states that Move retained the services of forensic experts to investigate the extent to which Kaminsky accessed Move’s documents and systems and to determine what harm he caused. I am doing it. According to the complaint, experts found that Kaminski had “deleted approximately 1,000 electronic files from Move’s laptop, deleted his entire browsing history, and irretrievably destroyed those files and data.” .
“The breach of Move’s internal systems disrupted and financially impacted the company, its employees, and its operations,” the complaint states. “Since the first day that Mr. Kaminski’s unauthorized digital presence was discovered in Move’s confidential business documents, Move’s employees, including some of its management and executives, have been committed to responding to and investigating the security breach. , and had to spend part of their working hours on repairs. The investigation caused these employees to be diverted from their normal business activities.
Move further alleged that Kaminsky “spyed” on Move’s confidential documents at least 37 times since he was hired by Koster and that his actions were “within the scope of his employment by Koster.”
The amended complaint also alleges that despite KoStar’s claims that Kaminski did nothing wrong, the company used the data that Kaminski allegedly obtained from Move. It also suggests that he did not allow Move access to his computer, which he would have had access to.
“Although Coster maintains that Mr. Kaminsky did nothing wrong, the defendants have so far shown that Mr. Mr. Kaminski has refused to provide Move with forensic images created from the computing devices issued to him, including Move’s confidential trade secret information,” the amended complaint states.
Four of the six claims in the lawsuit were against CoStar and Kaminsky for misappropriation of trade secrets. The other two cases are directed at Mr. Kaminsky, who is accused of breach of contract and promise fraud.
A spokesperson for Realtor.com told Inman in an email: We look forward to our day in court. ”
CoStar Group general counsel Gene Boxer continued to insist that Move’s lawsuit was a “sham.”
“The court has already denied Move’s request once and also denied Move’s request for an injunction,” Boxer said in an emailed statement to Inman. “Move’s amended complaint does not resolve the fundamental issues in this case and is merely another apparent attempt to attack Homes.com, which outperforms Move’s website in the marketplace.
“Agents love Homes.com and its ‘Your Listings, Your Leads’ model,” Boxer continued. “Realtor.com’s approach to deflecting potential clients is bad for agents and consumers alike. Move is focused on repairing its broken business model and accuses Realtor.com of selling fake leads to brokers. Attorney fees should be spent defending class action lawsuits.
Move has so far fought back, but Koster may file a new motion to dismiss the amended complaint.
Email Lillian Dickerson
