A CN locomotive makes it's way through the CN Taschereau yard in Montreal. An employee of Canadian National Railway Co. shared secret customer information with Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. to help the rival lure clients and win market share, CN says in a lawsuit that sets up a courtroom battle over alleged corporate espionage.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Greg Shnerer began his career as a railroader in 2007, supervising train dispatchers in Canadian National Railway Co.'s Southern Ontario operations. By the time he quit in July, 2015, he was a national account manager, responsible for 29 major freight clients worth $40-million in annual sales, including Heinz and Brick Warehouse LP in the railway's intermodal container business in Southern Ontario.
Mr. Shnerer is now at the centre of a lawsuit launched by CN that alleges he shared confidential CN customer information with arch-rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., where he now works, to lure away his former employer's customers.
CN claims Mr. Shnerer made off with confidential information on clients and has cost it revenue and market share. The company is seeking a court order blocking CP from using the information to win customers, the return of any gains and $2-million in punitive damages. The allegations have not been proved in court. CP has yet to file a statement of defence.
CN says Mr. Shnerer violated employment agreements by removing corporate secrets, and alleges a CP sales director named Derek Ackford – now Mr. Shnerer's boss – collaborated with Mr. Shnerer in the days before his resignation to amass a trove of client information that would "injure" CN.
"He left the employ of CN, taking with him confidential and proprietary information belonging to CN for the purpose of using it in the business of CP to unfairly compete with CN," the company alleges.
CN and CP would not comment on the litigation on Tuesday. Mr. Shnerer did not respond to e-mails. Mr. Ackford, himself a former CN salesman, declined to be interviewed on Monday.
According to an affidavit of a CN manager filed with the lawsuit, here are some of the steps Mr. Shnerer allegedly took in the days before he quit and moved to CP:
He was in contact with Mr. Ackford 52 times in the month before he quit.
On June 10, he forwarded to his personal e-mail a spreadsheet "identifying each and every domestic intermodal customer and volumes shipped and and revenues derived." "Based on this information, Mr. Shnerer would be able to determine the approximate rates offered to each and every domestic intermodal shipping client," the affidavit alleges.
Five days later, he forwarded to his Hotmail account a CN message detailing plans to buy 200 refrigerated containers, and the plan to use them to compete with CP.
On June 24, he forwarded an e-mail outlining CN's strategy to compete with CP's domestic container business.
Eric Atkins
Jeff Gray