Lyft has sued its former chief operating officer, Travis VanderZanden, alleging that he took some of its “most sensitive documents” with him when he left to join its rival Uber — the latest conflict in an intense competition between the two ridesharing companies.
According to the complaint, the documents included “Lyft’s historic and future financial information, strategic planning materials like marketing plans and product plans, customer lists and data, international growth documents, and private personnel information.”
Lyft’s complaint, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, says the company discovered the documents in a personal Dropbox account that VanderZanden had synced to his Lyft laptop. The complaint says Lyft searched VanderZanden’s work laptop (which had been returned to the company) after he ignored Lyft’s request to sign a document certifying that he didn’t possess and would not use Lyft’s confidential information.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the case this afternoon.
Lyft says in a statement emailed to GeekWire, “We are disappointed to have to take this step, but this unusual situation has left us no choice but to take the necessary legal action to protect our confidential information. We are incredibly proud of the dedicated and people-powered culture that we’ve fostered to support drivers, passengers and the entire Lyft community and we will not tolerate this type of behavior.”
The complaint also alleges that VanderZanden has solicited Lyft employees to join Uber, in violation of his agreement with the company. The complaint says his efforts were successful in at least one case, with Lyft executive Stephen Schnell joining him at Uber.
We’ve contacted Uber for comment, as well, and will update this post with any new information. Here’s a copy of the complaint, as filed with the court.
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