I can understand Federated Mutual Insurance’s lawyers’ initial trust of Daly’s interpretation that Boudreau had improper files in his possession. I can understand FMI’s desire to get their equipment back and prevent the dissemination of those files to a competitor. But that’s where my understanding stops.
A jury is going to wonder why Daly didn’t follow standard corporate procedure and request an exit meeting. True, in most cases such meetings are a waste of time, but if there ever were a right time for one, this was it. Red Flag #1. Rather, despite Daly already having concocted frantic doomsday scenarios to FMI’s lawyers with regard to files Daly claimed Boudreau possessed, he actually rushes him out the door. No standard warning about please return or destroy all Federated related material in your possession. Just buh-bye, see ya. Red Flag #2.
At this point, you would think FMI’s lawyers would have been livid at Daly: You let a guy you yourself are calling a criminal just walk out the door? Apparently not. Apparently the cat was quite happy to let the mouse go so it could play with it. Step one for FMI’s lawyers was NOT a phone call to Boudreau asking if he’d please return the Federated equipment and files he possessed when rushed out the door. Red Flag #3. Rather, it was a restraining order. Red Flag #4. When the phone call was finally made, the cat decided to bare its claws and warn: “the entire force of Federated would reign down upon” Boudreau if when asked to jump he didn’t say “how high.” Red Flag #5.
Boudreau volunteers to drive whatever he has over to whoever FMI says to give it to immediately. He doesn’t ask for a delay. He doesn’t call a lawyer. No need to delete anything. Everything you would expect from someone with nothing to hide. Red Flag #6. But FMI’s legal team would hear none of that. Apparently trying to scare the sh!t out of someone with words wasn’t enough fun for them. No, they needed props. Briggs & Morgan attorney Jason Hedican apparently decides why not show up wearing a badge and make the guy think he was in danger of being arrested at any moment? Sure it was 3-4 hours of driving for him, but the look of fear on Boudreau’s face would make it all worthwhile to this power-starved individual. Red Flag #7. Ironically, Hedican recommends to Boudreau he “get a good attorney” *after* he has already secured the equipment.
Now FMI has their equipment and files back. Now they could figure out what scheme Boudreau had hatched. Now they could determine who his secret contact was for the receipt of the alleged FMI secrets. Instead, they found nothing. No evidence Boudreau even accessed all those files let alone forwarded them to anyone. Red Flag #8. Furthermore, Boudreau had told the truth about returning to sales – at an insurance agency – as opposed to continuing as an analyst – at an insurance company. Targeting FMI’s customers made no sense at this new job. Red Flag #9.
Once again, you would think FMI’s legal team would have reported back to Daly what they found, or rather what they did *not* find. Apparently Daly reiterating that Boudreau possessed weapons of mass destruction was good enough for them. Apparently the fact they hadn’t found them yet didn’t mean Daly was lying, only that they didn’t look hard enough. So they convinced a judge in another jurisdiction to allow ten cops to conduct a three-hour raid of Boudreau’s wife’s parent’s house. Red Flag #10. They were instructed to take anything electronic, be it a camera lens or a notebook computer with pictures of a precious lost child.
Once again, nothing seized was found to contain anything at all that furthered Daly’s claims. Once again, FMI’s attorneys refused to acknowledge the (lack of) evidence before them. Whether this was a corporate decision and the attorney’s were following orders is immaterial. What matters is that the vicious nature of FMI’s actions via their attorneys did not stop. Rather, it intensified. This time they went before the Minnesota Insurance Commission to get Boudreau’s license suspended. Given insurance was all Boudreau knew, it assured his career was now ruined. At the hearing, FMI’s attorneys threw unfounded and unproven accusation after accusation at Boudreau-- things no lawyer would ever let their client answer given the severity of the charges no matter how much his client wanted to. Red Flag # 11.
So here we have at least 11 Red Flags that indicate a pattern of bullying and hence corruption by FMI via its lawyers. Here we have a wife seeing her totally innocent husband being faced with 45 years in jail. Rapists and child molesters get less time. Who can blame her for speaking out? She knows the truth. Those close to the family know the truth. They are not afraid to yell the truth from the rooftops. But FMI is apparently afraid. So afraid, they have been doing everything in their power to shut the Boudreaus and their supporters up. Red Flag #12. Sorry, not going to happen.
- Jeff |
