Dex Imaging, a Florida-based office technology company, has launched legal action against its former Executive Vice-President Kenneth Vanden Haute and his new employer, Impact Networking Ohio, alleging breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets.
In a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Dex accuses Vanden Haute of violating a non-compete agreement signed following Dex’s 2022 acquisition of Meritech East, an Ohio-based IT and print services firm where Vanden Haute was a senior executive and minority shareholder.
The complaint alleges that as part of the merger agreement, Vanden Haute signed a contract restricting him from competing with Dex or soliciting its customers and employees for a period of two years post-employment.
Dex contends that Vanden Haute resigned in January 2025 and, before even leaving the company, was announced as President of a new Impact Networking Ohio office — a direct competitor operating in the same geographic region and offering identical services.
The filing states that Vanden Haute “wasted no time in actively disregarding” his contractual obligations and has already used confidential Dex information — including customer data and pricing strategies — to solicit business from shared suppliers such as Kyocera.
Impact, an Illinois-based managed IT services company expanding in Ohio, is also named as a defendant. Dex claims the firm knowingly encouraged Vanden Haute’s breaches in order to gain an unfair commercial advantage, and failed to respond to warnings about his restrictive covenants.
The complaint seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions against both defendants, the return of all confidential information, and monetary and punitive damages. It also asks the court to extend Vanden Haute’s non-compete period by an additional 18 months.
