Batesville Casket sues former employee for allegedly trading secrets

Company filed lawsuit alleging wrongdoing by former employee

(BATESVILLE, Ind.) -- A former Batesville Casket employee is facing a lawsuit from his former employer.

Batesville Casket Company says Ryan Ackerman traded secrets and confidential company information to a competitor.

According to the lawsuit, the company says Ackerman shared, “numerous files with confidential customer, pricing, discount, territory, business strategy and goals, and other proprietary information, including pricing tools and formulas and what a forensic investigation strong[ly] suggests is an entire folder of 177 files.”

Ackerman lives in Pennsylvania and the company says he gave out information that should be considered confidential and valuable to a competitor.

Inside Indiana Business reports that Ackerman signed a certificate saying he did not have any Batesville files, property or confidential information in his possession.

However, the complaint alleges that he admitted to taking Batesville files.

The company is asking the court to prevent Ackerman from working in a similar capacity for a competitor to Batesville.

The company is also seeking monetary damages, including lost profits, compensatory damages and punitive damages, Inside Indiana Business reports.

Hillenbrand, Inc. agreed to sell Batesville Casket to a private equity firm for $761.5 million last year.