A Tucson-based language-interpretation service has been sued by a competitor that accuses it of gaining unfair access to trade secrets and customer information.
Tele-Interpreters LLC and its sister company, Language Line Services Inc. — which recently expanded its Tucson offices — filed suit Friday in California Superior Court against Tucson-based Voiance Language Services LLC and David Bachman, a former Tele-Interpreters senior sales executive.
Voiance is a wholly owned subsidiary of CyraCom International, a Tucson-based company that provides language-interpretation services and competes directly with Tele-Interpreters and Language Line.
Voiance officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
"Voiance has only very recently been made aware of this and doesn't consider it appropriate to respond at this time," said Ivan Venzin, a spokesman for CyraCom.
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According to the complaint, Voiance hired Bachman and is using his knowledge for identifying, contacting and enticing Tele-Interpreters' customers to engage the services of Voiance.
"We believe (Bachman) has with him significant and extremely valuable trade secrets and information regarding our clients' business and its customers," said Steven Weinberg, the attorney for Tele-Interpreters and Language Line.
When Bachman left Tele-Interpreters, he signed a confidentiality agreement, Weinberg said.
The complaint also says that in its promotions and advertisements, Voiance has been making false and misleading statements — including how quickly its operators can connect customers with an interpreter and the length of time the company has been in business.
The companies provide face-to-face or over-the-phone interpretation services for non-English-speakers, primarily for the health-care industry.
The industry has become increasingly competitive, especially with increasing numbers of non-English-speakers seeking access to the health-care system.
"Language Line has always competed fairly and expects everybody in its competitive space to compete fairly as well," Weinberg said.
Language Line Services is based in Monterey, Calif., where the suit was filed.