Court seals ex-Motorola CFO's wrong-termination lawsuit
A lawsuit filed by former Motorola Inc. Chief Financial Officer Paul Liska against the Schaumburg company was sealed and impounded the same day it was filed last month, a court database showed.
The electronic docket kept by the Cook County Circuit Court, where the case was filed Feb. 20, shows no reason for the measure, nor the identity of who requested it. Motorola said in a regulatory filing this week that Liska was terminated for cause.
Liska, who worked at Motorola for less than a year, filed a wrongful-termination suit against the company, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the situation. Motorola posted more than $4 billion in losses last year after failing to come up with a phone to match the success of its once best-selling Razr.
Liska, 55, said he was fired without cause on Jan. 29 and was later surprised when the company later said otherwise, according to the Journal. The company didn't give a reason when it first announced his departure Feb. 3. Liska couldn't be located for comment. Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson declined to comment.
The sealing of court cases is "very rare," said Chicago attorney Arthur Sternberg, who sued Motorola on behalf of another discharged executive in 2005. There is a general presumption that "anything filed in court is in the public domain," said Sternberg, who isn't involved in the Liska case.
A partner in the Chicago office of St. Louis-based Thompson Coburn, Sternberg said a sealing request could have been made in this case to protect confidential or "trade secret" information such as Motorola business plans and data.
Sternberg's client, Theresa Metty, a senior vice president, had accused the company of gender discrimination. The case was settled during a Chicago federal court trial in March 2007. The terms of that accord are confidential, Sternberg said.
Liska couldn't be located for comment. Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson declined to comment.
The new case is Liska v. Motorola, 09-L-002079, in the Cook County Circuit Court, Law Division (Chicago).
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=276738">Motorola CFO 'involuntarily terminated' <span class="date">[03/04/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276491"> Motorola says finance chief was fired for cause last month <span class="date">[03/04/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>