Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Massachusetts

Representing myself in a civil suit?

Getting to the point: I downloaded contact information from my prior company�s website that included addresses and other public information. I offered to sell it to a competitor. No money was exchanged. I was online and arrested all in the same day. charged with one felony and one misdemeanor (trade secrets). Criminal case was dropped due to apparent inactivity on the side of the DA. Paid a great lawyer 10k to get me through the pre-trial. Now, a civil suit is against me.

I was recently sent a 1st set of interrogatories, request for documents, and a notice for deposition. My lawyer wants to charge me another few thousand to take me through this initial deposition and respond to all of their requests. He seems to think that this lawyer is simply trying to get money out of their client and bill them for all they are doing. I am considering representing myself or getting a court-appointed lawyer, if I am able to. Do you think this is a bad idea? If so, why? I assume they want to go after me for money this time around and if so, I have no property or wages they can attach currently. Can they get money from me in the distant future? (ie: ask me to pay all legal fees? Thanks so much for any help you can give me


Asked on 3/06/08, 12:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gregory Lee Gregory P. Lee, Attorney at Law

Re: Representing myself in a civil suit?

First off, if you utilized your log-on to a "former employer's" website to get contact information that IT had developed, it was not "public information." The fact that you can get addresses from a truly public source does NOT mean that you had the right to obtain the former employer's specific amalgamation of data, unless the company held it on a website open to the general public. The fact that you admittedly tried to sell the data to a competitor tells me that you knew it was valuable property, and that you intended both to avenge yourself -and- make a buck for yourself.

That out of the way, you would be foolish to represent yourself. If the company gets a judgment, it can enforce it via execution for up to 20 years without doing anything more than holding on to the paperwork.

As for the motive of the company's lawyer: if the company has a right, and wants him to enforce it, it is difficult to suggest that he should not do his job.

Perhaps you and your attorney should file an offer of judgment in writing, to be filed with the court, to force the company to look at it and assess its costs of continuing forward, versus the certainty of getting a little cash and a permanent injunction against your ever doing such a thing again.

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Answered on 3/12/08, 6:57 am


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