Do Good Real Estate and its CEO Johnathan Jackson are suing Jackson’s former partner, alleging that he did not comply with the terms of a separation agreement and acquired assets he wasn’t entitled to when he sold his share of Do Good this summer and started another agency.
A complaint filed in New Hanover County Superior Court on Oct. 20 alleges that Ryan Crecelius “acquired a database and compilation of proprietary information and trade secrets belonging to Do Good” between Aug. 21-25.
Ten agents in Crecelius’ new firm, Nest Realty Wilmington, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit, which was designated a complex business case Oct. 24 and transferred to N.C. Business Court.
At one point, Do Good Real Estate was an up-and-coming residential real estate firm in Wilmington with 15 agents, and had received local and national attention for its aim to donate portions of sales commissions to nonprofit organizations.
“On Aug. 1, 2014, Johnathan Jackson was a co-owner of a successful socially conscious real estate business,” according to the amended complaint filed by the attorney representing Do Good and Jackson. “By Sept. 1, 2014, however, Mr. Jackson was the sole owner of a corporation gutted of its agents, intellectual property, trade secrets, and clients by Mr. Crecelius, a former partner who abandoned their charitable business model to found a competing firm, while in the process stripping Do Good of its assets and encouraging others to do so as well.”
The amended complaint represents the plaintiffs' side. Crecelius denies the claims.
“We have done absolutely nothing wrong. I intend to prove his allegations are baseless and unfounded in the North Carolina Business Court,” Crecelius said in an email Friday. “My hope is that this can be resolved quickly, but I know that litigation in courts can take time.”
He wrote, “The ‘special sauce’ that was Do Good was built out of a belief that you treat people, clients and the community, with respect. Otherwise known as the ‘golden rule’ which is not proprietary. It’s a belief that I will ALWAYS continue to have and will infuse into my new firm, Nest Realty.”
Crecelius said he founded Do Good in March 2010, and Jackson joined him in 2012. Jackson “immediately contributed substantial funds to Do Good” and “implemented a business model in which each real estate broker associated with Do Good would contribute six percent of their gross commissions to be donated to local charities,” the amended complaint says.
The company “experienced steady growth under Mr. Jackson’s leadership of the day-to-day operations,” according to the complaint.
Both Jackson and Crecelius said disagreements between them led to the eventual split, with Crecelius selling his 50 percent interest in Do Good to Jackson for $25,000 in a separation agreement dated Aug. 25.
On Aug. 28, Crecelius launched a new firm, a Wilmington office of Nest Realty, an agency with a hub in Charlottesville, Virginia. All of Do Good’s agents chose to join him, Crecelius said.
According to the plaintiffs' complaint, Jackson is seeking damages in excess of $25,000 and injunctions against Crecelius and agents, related to the use of “trade secrets or confidential information.”
A portion of the proprietary information in dispute, according to the court document, includes a database called Highrise, which “contains extensive information regarding past and potential real estate customers, leads and contacts – all of which was the property of Do Good,” the court document says.
Michael Murchison of Murchison, Taylor & Gibson, attorney for Crecelius, said the defendant’s deadline for filing a response is Dec. 19, and that response will deny Jackson’s claims. Cory Reiss of Shipman & Wright is representing Do Good and Jackson, and Samuel B. Potter of Potter & Phillips is representing the Nest agents listed as defendants.
As of Monday, a court date had not been scheduled yet, according to the N.C. Business Court’s online docket.
