Two cable tie manufacturers are battling in court again.

American Elite Molding announced it filed suit in Florida against competitor Advanced Cable Ties Inc., of Massachusetts, claiming ACT employs undocumented workers.

ACT co-founder and president Ken Tomasetti termed the AEM lawsuit as a “retaliatory claim” by a direct competitor.

ACT earlier had sued AEM – known then as Bay State Cable Ties, in U.S. federal court “as a result of Bay State’s misappropriation of ACT’s trade secrets,” Tomasetti told FIN.

The new lawsuit by AEM also alleges ACT made false representations in the market and to the U.S. government.

American Elite Molding alleges that around 60% of ACT’s workforce is undocumented and provided by Twin City Temporaries Inc., “which brings workers in from other countries and pays them under the table to avoid taxes and payroll costs,” according to American Elite.

AEM is seeking unspecified monetary damages for ACT’s alleged use of workers who are not eligible to work in the U.S.  

“We’ve had to significantly lower prices to retain customers because of what we consider unfair practices,” American Elite founder and CEO Robert Sires told Northwest Florida Daily News. “Based on sources that we have, they told us that almost all the night workers and a fair amount of day workers in the factory were employed by Twin City.”

Sires told the newspaper his sources desire to remain anonymous.

Sires claims Twin City Temporaries brings in workers from Vietnam and other countries and pays them “under the table” to avoid taxes and payroll costs.

Sires said Twin City Temporaries proposed a similar arrangement with AEM a year-and-a-half ago to cut labor costs.

“Of course we said no to it,” Sires told NW Florida Daily News. “I let it sit for a while, but then I realized we started losing a couple of clients’ accounts to them, and they were competing in an unfair way at a lower cost.”

The AEM lawsuit alleges ACT has made false representations to the marketplace, including the U.S. government.

“ACT misleads the relevant marketplace by disingenuously attempting to convey a wholesome image of its workforce where, in reality … over sixty percent of ACT’s workforce is ineligible to work in the United States,” the lawsuit states.

 

Tomasetti: ‘Retaliatory Claim’ for Jury Verdict Against AEM
Tomasetti told FIN that ACT earlier had taken legal action against AEM – known then as Bay State Cable Ties, in U.S.federal court “as a result of Bay State’s misappropriation of ACT’s trade secrets,” Tomasetti said. “Ultimately, after a full and fair trial, a jury returned a verdict against Bay State (finding, in a civil context, that Bay State stole ACT’s confidential designs) and awarded ACT several hundred thousand dollars in damages.”  

“More recently, ACT learned that AEM continued its unethical conduct by importing Chinese cable ties and falsely repackaging then as ‘Made in the USA’,” Tomasetti added. “By doing so, ACT alleged that AEM was committing fraud on customers, including the Federal Government.”  

As ACT lost military contracts due to AEM’s alleged deceptive practices, ACT again took legal action against AEM in Federal Court for violating federal law regarding unfair competition,” Tomasetti added.  That case was filed over a year ago and is now in discovery.

“We have strong evidence to support this claim as a Federal Judge has already denied AEM’s motion to dismiss which means another jury will likely get to render judgment on AEM’s unethical business practices,” Tomasetti told FIN.

“Therefore, we firmly believe that AEM’s current lawsuit against ACT, which is utterly baseless, was filed in order to retaliate against ACT for taking the above legal actions against Bay State/AEM and to otherwise harm ACT’s excellent reputation in our industry.”

Tomasetti denied ACT has ever “employed any individual who ACT knew or had reason to believe was not authorized to work in the United States. Likewise, ACT has never engaged any staffing agency which has provided workers who ACT knew or had reason to believe were not authorized to work in the United States.”

“The difference between these two companies is clear as only AEM has been found liable by a jury of our peers of unethical and illegal conduct,” Tomasetti noted.

“Given these facts and AEM’s history of unlawful conduct toward our company, not only will ACT and its attorneys vigorously defend ACT in the Florida lawsuit, ACT also plans to file all appropriate counterclaims against AEM in connection with its frivolous action,” Tomasetti said.

 

Gardner, MA-based Advanced Cable Ties was founded in 1994 and its website proclaims the company as “A rock solid U.S. manufacturing company.” Web: AdvanceCableTies.com

Founded in 1998 as Bay State Cable Ties, the name was changed to American Elite Molding in 1996. Crestview, FL-based American Elite manufactures nylon cable ties. Web: AmericanEliteMolding.com