HOUSTON — A Houston-based energy company alleges two of its employees illegally solicited business from the company.
Tribute Energy filed a complaint Feb. 24 in Harris County District Court against Rosario Composto and Joseph Composto alleging breach of fiduciary duty and other claims.
According to the plaintiff's complaint, Rosario Composto served as Tribute's commercial director and member of its board of directors and remained employed by the company through Dec. 31, 2022. They claim that Rosario Composto had access to all of the company's trade secrets including customer lists, supplier lists and pricing arrangements.
Tribute further claims that in September 2020, they hired Rosario Composto's son, Joseph Composto, and that the Compostos began to disparage the company and solicit Tribute's customers. Specifically, Tribute alleges that they lost a 10-year, long-term logistics customer contract due to the defendant's actions and that the defendants also attempted to solicit significant customers such as the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. According to the complaint, Joseph Composto was terminated in December of 2022.
Tribute seeks monetary relief of more than $1 million, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by Stephen McCleery of The McCleery Law Firm in Houston.
Harris County District Court case number 2023-12199