A Tale of Two Lawsuits

Camp Heyl aka Salem Watch Dog has recently brought out allegations of impropriety against Trustee Brien Witkowski’s company from 2003.

This is Camp Heyl’s idea of payback, for Mr. Heyl having been exposed earlier this year for campaigning as a “successful businessman” while actively being sued by his vendor Pennzoil for selling adulterated products under Pennzoil name, unjust enrichment (that’s irony), and about 10 more things, read here.

Here’s my comparison of these two lawsuits:

Pennzoil v Heyl and Lubemart	InstallShield vs Wise Solutions
Robert Heyl named personally on suit	Brien Witkowski not sued, just company
Sued by a supplier for improperly using its logo, selling counterfeit products with Pennzoil name, unjust enrichment, etc. Mr. Heyl and his wife run two small quick oil change garages, and were personally sued.	Sued by a competitor, the only other competitor with Wise Solutions, while both were trying to sell their companies. Was never alleged that Mr. Witkowski did anything improper – his company of over 100 employees was accused of spying on competition.
Heyl was actively running for office as a “successful businessman” in 2008 while defending this suit. Never disclosed this suit and its implications, until exposed this year.	Witkowski was a seated trustee when suit was filed. As a global corporation, this suit obtained extensive media coverage as well as letters to the editor at the time.
Heyl’s consent judgment at ¶ 26 states he accepts the findings of fact that his actions constituted: Copyright Infringement Unfair competition Diluted the plaintiffs marks False advertising Unfair trade practices Unjust enrichment Breach of contract Tort of conversion	Brien Witkowski sells Wise Solutions to Altris 6 months after the allegations made by a competitor. The competitor, which was Wise Solutions only competitor, was trying to sell their business at the same time.
Mr. Heyl says on his website (about 2/3 page down) that Pennzoil filed suit against 22 independent oil dealers because Pennzoil was upset that these dealers had switched to other bulk oil companies. Mr. Heyl says the “ex-Supervisor” is telling lies and is inaccurate when describing the lawsuit against “his company.” However, the “ex-Supervisor” only makes the lawsuit and the agreement that Mr. Heyl signed available to the public without commentary.	Mr. Witkowski says after selling his company for a “fair” price and retiring as President of a global company with over 100 employees that was started with an elementary school friend, Mr. Witkowski retired – for a month – and now teaches high school. He says, “If I had to do it all over again, I would make the exact same decisions and end up exactly where I am today.”

 Final Thoughts

If I understand Mr. Heyl correctly, he is saying that Pennzoil filed retaliatory lawsuits against 22 independent oil change dealers for switching to another oil supplier, and that the suits all had the same language, regardless of circumstance. If that were true, Pennzoil’s attorney’s Dykema Gossett of Ann Arbor had violated Rule 11b (3) which states that an attorney signing a complaint MUST have “evidentiary support” for filing a lawsuit. I could find nothing suggesting that Mr. Heyl’s attorney filed a complaint against Dykema Gossette in this regard. I also could not find any similar lawsuits against “22 independent oil change businesses in Michigan and Northern Ohio” as Mr. Heyl states on his website. Perhaps Mr. Heyl could bring forth this proof, as I have not been able to confirm this assertion.