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Este informe no está disponible en español. CARIBBEAN BUSINESSRadisson Ambassador Plaza Alleges Courtyard By Marriott Breached Settlement AgreementMay seek further legal recourse in dispute over casino customer listBy EVELYN GUADALUPE-FAJARDOJanuary 9, 2003 Executives of Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel & Casino and the Courtyard by Marriott reached a confidential settlement agreement regarding the alleged misappropriation of the Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel’s casino customer list, which contains the names, addresses, and other personal information about the hotel’s more than 20,000 clients in the past 12 years. Nevertheless, Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel executives said they are analyzing the possibility of further legal action against Courtyard by Marriott, whose first hotel on the island opens Jan. 7, for allegedly breaching the U.S. District Court settlement reached on Dec. 23. "Courtyard by Marriott General Manager Luis Rivera was publicly quoted as saying the stolen casino client list was a misunderstanding that had been cleared up," said Ismael Vega, comptroller at Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel. "The characterization as a ‘misunderstanding’. . .of the matters over which we commenced litigation against Courtyard by Marriott represents a serious misrepresentation of the facts and of the settlement agreement reached by the parties, the terms and conditions of which were supposed to remain confidential." In December, the Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel filed a complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order against Courtyard by Marriott; Courtyard by Marriott managing company Key Management; Carl Kortum, general manager of the Courtyard by Marriott casino; Elaine Siegel, marketing director of the Courtyard by Marriott casino; and two former employees of the Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel: Robert O’Neill and Jose de la Rosa. The lawsuit also alleged Ana Diaz, a former employee at Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel, Spa & Casino, who is now employed by Courtyard by Marriott, might have misappropriated the Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel’s customer list. According to court documents, the Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel sought $2 million in compensatory damages and for Courtyard by Marriott to deliver for destruction all materials derived from the casino mailing list. The Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel stated in court documents that Courtyard by Marriott is in the process of procuring a contract with Accumail of Puerto Rico, a mailing services company that the Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel had hired. Accumail provides specialized, computerized multimailing services to private corporations and government agencies throughout Puerto Rico. According to the court documents, Accumail received a list of Courtyard by Marriott customers from Robert O’Neill (a new Courtyard by Marriott employee) via e-mail, and Ana Diaz visited Accumail in November to furnish a list of more than 5,000 names on computer disc. Diaz asked the Accumail person in charge at the time of her visit to merge her client list with O’Neill’s. De la Rosa (a new Courtyard by Marriott employee) also went to Accumail’s offices to pick up a package containing a printout of the merged lists allegedly belonging to Courtyard by Marriott. The Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel called Accumail to inform them de la Rosa was no longer an employee of the hotel. Accumail replied de la Rosa had picked up a package from its reception desk. Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel immediately sent two executives to Accumail to verify if its customer list was in order. Accumail compared the customer list produced by O’Neill and Diaz with the Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel list and with that from the casino at the Ritz-Carlton, allegedly finding the lists were similar. This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
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