Ben Konop's Lawsuit Against Convergys Was Dismissed - One of the biggest troubles with the news media is its constant inability to followup on a story. So, I followed up on one myself. Ben Konop took Convergys Corporation to court for 2 clients over various issues involving compensation from the state of Ohio (as a $200,000 Ohio Industrial Training Program incentive grant) and the city of Toledo (through tax abatement) that the company received for its Toledo call center (which opened in 2000 in Glenbyrne Plaza, but then closed in early 2004). This issue received a boost from Mr Konop personally on ToledoTalk. The 8/10/2005 lawsuit filing was covered in the Toledo Blade, in the Cincinnati Business Courier and at WTOL. (Mr Konop's own website lists some of these links and more, yet fails to mention what I found out below.)
Past August of 2005, a long period of public silence followed. The lawsuit (G-4801-CI-200504664) can be seen on the website for the Lucas County Clerk of Courts; just complete the docket number and click through the next page (use the defaults: no specific date and "All" participants) in order to yield the court record. The lawsuit is "CLOSED/TERM'D", which I surmise is a result of the defendent's (i.e. Convergys') motion to dismiss (with prejudice) that was granted by the court on 6/12/2006. What I need to find out now is the actual or substantive information in the lawsuit and the dismissing opinion. For instance, the first record entry says "COMPLAINT FILED", yet I don't actually see the text of the complaint itself. For another instance, the dismissal entry says "SEE OPINION AND JE".
Citizen journalists, start your keyboards!
Disclosure: I worked for Convergys for a short period of time; I personally knew one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and I met the other one once; and I've spoken to Mr Konop once on the phone about the issue.
posted by GuestZero to politics at 2:34 A.M. EST (3 Comments)
Comments ...
No argument from me here. The lawsuit was certainly dismissed based on lack of standing. The opinion did not consider the merits of the lawsuit, but dismissed because the court felt that the plaintiffs, the workers of Convergys, could not sue to enforce the contract between the state and Convergys. The court did not rule on whether Convergys broke the terms of the agreement with the state by not providing job training as promised and then acting in bad faith by closing the call center soon after the grant from the state expired and then shipping the jobs overseas. That was really the meat of the lawsuit, but I knew that the tricky legal issue was standing when I filed it.
If I had to do it over again, I would because I sincerely believe that Convergys acted unethically in its treatment of the workers and its treatment of the taxpayers. I knew going in it was an uphill battle. Convergys had a team of lawyers working in the case from one of the biggest law firms in Ohio. I was on the case alone and working on it on a pro bono basis. And there was certainly merit in filing this case, because I believe Convergys will be at least a little more careful now in dealing with the taxpayers of Ohio and their workers. Thanks to the publicity the lawsuit received, a message was still sent to Convergys that laid off workers and taxpayers would not take things like this lying down. I wish we would have gone to trial as I really would have liked to dig a bit deeper into the practices of Convergys, but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
Most importantly though, I sincerely appreciate the willingness of the plaintiffs to stand up and take on their former employer. They knew it was an uphill battle from the start as well. This ruling has nothing to do with the merits of the case remember, so they indeed may be correct in their claims. This ruling was based on more of a technicality of civil procedure. Feel free to email directly with any specific questions about the case: ben@benkonop.com.
posted by Ben_Konop at 09:38 A.M. EST on Thu Sep 28, 2006 #
To quote the late, great Bill Clinton "I tried, at least I tried". I love the part about "a message was sent to Convergys"
posted by buttonpusher at 07:03 P.M. EST on Thu Sep 28, 2006 #
As a former CVG employee myself, at least you gave it the old college try. If it's the State's responsibility to follow this up, though, then it's pretty sad that they aren't.
posted by TheTalentedMrC at 01:46 P.M. EST on Fri Sep 29, 2006 #