San Jose, November 11, 2005 - A court in Santa Clara County Wednesday rejected an attempt by Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc. to have Javad Navigations Systems, Inc., a California-based global positioning systems company, terminate 40 engineers in Russia. The case is remarkable because it involves two California corporations in a fight in a California court over employees on the other side of the globe. With outsourcing to foreign countries becoming increasingly popular, the scenario in this case, where two US corporations vie over employees thousands of miles away, is bound to repeat itself in the future.
Dr. Javad Ashjaee, the owner of Javad Navigation Systems, Inc., resigned from Topcon, based in Livermore, California, in July 2005. Dr. Ashjaee had an agreement not to solicit Topcon employees away from the company. Shortly after Dr. Ashjaee left Topcon, 40 Moscow-based engineers of Topcon, including many team leaders, decided to resign and follow Dr. Ashjaee to his new office in Moscow. Topcon then sought an order in a California court that would result in the forced termination of all 40 engineers in Moscow.
In response, Dr. Ashjaee submitted forty declarations by the engineers explaining their reasons for leaving Topcon and denying that any solicitation occurred. On November 9, 2005, Judge Kevin E. McKenney denied the request for preliminary injunction. The Court found the engineers’ explanation of their reasons for leaving Topcon and their preference for wanting to work for Dr. Ashjaee — who is renowned in the GPS field — to be more plausible than Topcon's allegations.
Much of the evidence and all of the engineers were located in Moscow where employment laws differ significantly from those in the US. Judge McKenney was confronted with difficult and novel issues, including whether depositions of the foreign employees should occur and whether the Russian employees should be terminated as a result of a California court ruling. With regard to the taking of depositions, the Court ordered that Topcon could take the depositions of four Russian engineers either in the United States or in Moscow pursuant to the recently amended California Code of Civil Procedure 2027.010. However, considering these depositions and the other evidence, Judge McKenney decided that the evidence did not support a finding of solicitation and denied Topcon’s injunction.
Dr. Ashjaee and Javad Navigation Systems, Inc. were represented by James Brosnahan, Wesley Overson, and Alison Tucher of Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco. Topcon was represented by Robert Van Nest, Michael Celio and Clement Roberts of Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco.
To obtain a copy of the decision or to speak with Mr. Brosnahan or Mr. Overson, please call Jessica Miller at 415-268-6901.