The Finish Line Inc. filed suit on Thursday against arch-rival Foot Locker, Inc., alleging that Foot Locker attempted to steal key management in an effort to obtain sensitive financial information.
In court documents obtained by Sports Executive Weekly, The Finish Line has asked the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis for damages “sufficient to compensate Finish Line for the harm suffered” due to the “wrongful acts of the defendant”. They also requested the court to “preliminary and permanently enjoin Foot Locker” from soliciting confidential information from FINL management, soliciting FINL management to leave Finish Line, and “further acts of unfair competition.”
The suit alleges that Foot Locker has actively recruited FINL store managers, regional managers, and corporate officers that have access to confidential information, including sales projections, business plans and information about the profitability of individual Finish Line stores.
FINL contends in the suit that Foot Locker had taken “actions to harm Finish Line, not to further its own legitimate business interests.”
The Finish Line appears to be looking for some type of preliminary ruling as it conducts its own investigation of the alleged actions. The suit indicates that FINL expects to have specific evidence “after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation and discovery”, but did not cite any specific evidence in the filed papers.
“If Finish Line were to lose a significant portion of that management team, it would suffer serious competitive harm,” according to the filed papers.
>>> Anybody else getting the idea that these two retailers just dont seem to like each other…
