Anthony Lee Thomas, a former employee of Internova Travel Group's Altour division, has filed for a dismissal of Internova's lawsuit against him, according to Travel Weekly's sister publication The Beat.
Internova and Altour filed suit against Thomas in February in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuit alleged that Thomas and fellow former Altour employee Barry Noskeau started a new agency, NousTravel, that performed the same functions as Altour.
Altour alleged NousTravel was staffed "entirely" by Altour employees and had the same business model. The lawsuit further alleged Thomas had used "trade secret information," including travel advisor agreements with commission and pay structure, to solicit advisors for the agency.
In court documents, Thomas denied the claims. He said he was a consultant for the agency and that he had not yet invested in NousTravel.
The Beat on Friday reported that Thomas' main argument for the dismissal of the case lies in the trade-secrets claim, its only federal-level claim. Thomas claimed Altour has not met the federal definition of "trade secret." Further, he asked the court to decline jurisdiction over the case's state law claims and dismiss the suit.
A separate lawsuit against Nouskeau has been filed in Texas. Noskeau told The Beat in March the lawsuits were being "vigorously contested."