A person I know well was just fired from a company. He had a job on the executive team. He is suing the company for not giving him any notic...

Question

A person I know well was just fired from a company. He had a job on the executive team. He is suing the company for not giving him any notice. However I know of things he did while he worked for said company, like doing freelance work for another company (of which I know the name of that company) while on the clock at the company that fired him. I know of someone who still works at that company who has helped cover up the fact that he did freelance work on the job by deleting files from his PC, even after they were told not to touch his equipment to preserve evidence and anything else inappropriate he may have had like emails, messages, who knows. I also know of people who still work there who have witnessed him behave very inappropriately, like making rude, boarder line sexual comments.

I know he is planning to sue. My question is can offer the company my information for say 10K (pr whatever amount but let's say 10k), which could squash his case in its tracks, and ask for a check in exchange for names and details I know, if they are interested? Or is this illegal in MA?

Answer

Our entire system of criminal and civil justice depends heavily on the basic honesty and integrity of good people to come forward with knowledge like this. In nearly every lawsuit, we rely on the adverse party to provide the documents and things that will ultimately make our case. If we allow the destruction of evidence to go on, it could be any one of us unjustly convicted or made to pay hefty civil fines that could bankrupt your business or family.

You must come forward this information and the people who have helped to hide or destroy evidence must be punished so that we can all live in a free, fair, and just society.

Your employer should give you a raise or a promotion or otherwise commend you for helping out, and nothing prevents you from suggesting that to them, but you cannot extract money from them in exchange for this information. It is essentially extortion and blackmail. Therefore you must view this as your civic and moral duty to disclose. You might even consider doing it anonymously, but I make no recommendation one way or the other on that.

Please also note that this situation could open you up to liability as an accessory to the destruction of evidence, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, hindering an official investigation etc...you get the idea. With that in mind, you might want to visit an attorney in person and pay for some very specific and confidential legal advice that you can NOT get here.

Do the right thing, and good luck.

Answer

Your question raises a number of interesting issues that I find are intriguing so I will take a stab at answering it.

I cannot say that what you are proposing is legal, but, I can say that I am not aware of any law that says selling information of this sort is illegal. It could be problematical. If the defendants find out that you have relevant information after a lawsuit has been filed, they could simply summons you to give a deposition and you might then be forced to provide truthful testimony for nothing more than a nominal witness fee. Since the company can get the information for free if they really need it, why would they pay you for it. If they pay you for the infromation, it might later appear, or someone might allege, that they tried to improperly influence you.

It might be possible to avoid the disclosure of your identity by going through an intermediary. But, that might create another set of problems.

It does not sound to me like you would be engaged in extortion or blackmail by seeking payment for the information. Blackmail mail or extortion is usually based on the threat to disclose information or harm another person in order to improperly coerce the target to pay money. In your case, you would not be disclosing information that was helpful unless you received payment. This is quite different from blackmail or extortion.

It might be a violation of legal ethics for a lawyer to pay you for providing this information in some instances if you were viewed as a witness rather than an informer. This might limit the ability of the company to have their lawyer pay you, although they might be able to pay you directly. Legal ethics might prevent a lawyer from acting as an intermediary for you to propose selling the information you mention.

I don't think that you necessarily have any legal duty to come forward with your information. It might be the ethically correct thing to do. There could be a number of pros and cons from an ethical standpoint. As a practical matter, getting involved could be inconvenient for you.

If you really think there is an injustice that is taking place, it might be the right thing to let the coompany know. If you are an employee of the company, you might even have a duty of loyalty to your employer that might obligate you to disclose this information.