Draftfcb drops lawsuit against Digitas

Laurence Boschetto

Interpublic Group company Draftfcb  has dropped its lawsuit against two former Draftfcb employees and Digitas, said Michelle McGowan, Draftfcb's VP and director of corporate communications, in an emailed statement.

On March 15, Draftfcb accused former employees Brooke Skinner and Kevin Drew Davis of violating a contract that prohibits recruiting or hiring colleagues from Draftfcb.

“Both Draftfcb and Digitas have a tremendous amount of respect for each other, and our recent legal dispute was unfortunate. As a result of the agreements made between the parties, legal actions have been dropped,” stated the joint statement released by both agencies.

The statement also said Digitas will continue to ensure that the non-solicitation obligations of its employees are strictly enforced.

In the court document filed with the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois in March, the Chicago-based agency claimed that after Skinner and Davis left Draftfcb to join Digitas, at least five more Draftfcb employees, which the two defendants worked closely, also left the agency to join Digitas.

Draftfcb also claimed Digitas purposefully interfered by permitting and inducing Skinner and Davis to assist in the hiring of Draftfcb's employees, thus violating their signed agreements.   

In the filing, Draftfcb said damages could not be fully quantified as it had suffered irreparable harm due to Skinner and Davis' actions.

McGowan said in the email that no additional comments would be made by either agency.