Facebook Sabotage May Cost

SEATTLE (CN) - A medical research company claims the employee who maintained its Facebook page quit in a huff and then sabotaged the page, deleting the company profile and all of the postings, costing it more than 250 "fans" - and $250,000.

Northwest Clinical Research Center demands $250,000 from Julie Stalley, in King County Court.

Northwest says it called a meeting with Stalley on Aug. 4 to "discuss ways to improve her job performance." She had worked for the company since November 2010.

"At this meeting, Ms. Stalley became very agitated and defiant," the complaint states. "The company requested that Ms. Stalley come back to the office on the following Monday (the office is normally closed on Fridays) to discuss the issues further, however, Ms. Stalley declined, collected her belongings, returned her keyless entry device, and left the building.

"Based on this behavior, NWCRC concluded that Ms. Stalley had decided to terminate her employment."

Northwest says Stalley went home and deactivated its "profile" and "company page" on Facebook. That, says Northwest, caused it to lose all its advertising running on Facebook, erased all previous postings and links on the profile page, caused it to lose more than 250 "fans," along with all photos, videos, and industry related articles that were posted or linked to the page, and the link to the Facebook company page was no longer embedded in the Northwest Clinical Research Center websites or linked to the center's Twitter account.

"As a result, NWRC has incurred damages in excess of $250,000," the company says.

It seeks money and costs. It is represented by Wesley Edmunds Jr., with Gordon Edmunds Grelish.

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