The co-owner of an information technology firm in Cherry Creek has been removed as director and prohibited from accessing its computer systems after using them to snoop.
“(Kevin) Seba’s prior unauthorized access to LucidPoint’s systems, surveillance of corporate communications, interference with payroll administration and unilateral control over corporate banking authority demonstrate a substantial risk of ongoing harm,” an arbitrator found.
Seba engaged in “dishonest conduct and a gross abuse of authority,” she added.
LucidPoint, at 44 Cook St., handles cloud consulting and computer hardware needs for business clients. It was formed in 2017 by Seba and Mike Fontaine.
In 2024, Seba sued Fontaine and LucidPoint, accusing his business partner of running an “oppressive, if not fraudulent” racket “to enrich himself using company assets while at the same time damaging the value of the company.” Seba alleged that Fontaine and an accountant planned to steadily increase Fontaine’s salary to $500,000 per year and then move LucidPoint’s assets to a new company, rendering Seba’s half of LucidPoint worthless.
Fontaine countersued Seba for extreme and outrageous conduct, among other claims. He said that Seba illegally accessed LucidPoint’s payroll and computer systems to decrease Fontaine’s pay by 44%, read employees’ emails and eye their calendars.
The co-owners’ tiff has been cloaked in layers of secrecy since last year, when Douglas County District Judge Robert Lung ordered the entire case file to be suppressed from public view. The matter then went to arbitration, a confidential process.
There, an arbitrator rejected Seba’s claim that LucidPoint is deadlocked and must be handed to a receiver or dissolved. Instead, she found that Seba breached his fiduciary duty to the company. She ordered Fontaine to buy out Seba’s 49% stake in LucidPoint.
Seba asked the Colorado Court of Appeals to overturn that decision and a similar order by Lung. He claimed the rulings were invalid because they downplay what Seba calls “smoking gun” emails purportedly revealing Fontaine’s plot to devalue LucidPoint — emails that Seba found while snooping. Lung determined that the emails were subject to accountant-client privilege and refused to look at them, but the arbitrator considered them.
On July 9, the Colorado Court of Appeals sided with Fontaine and LucidPoint. The arbitrator’s ruling rendered the case moot, a three-judge panel of that court determined.
Seba attorney Tom Walsh of Walsh IP Law declined to comment, since the case is ongoing. Colin Moriarty and Matt Knaster at Moriarty Underhill also represent Seba.
“LucidPoint is pleased with the Court of Appeals’ opinion,” that company said in a statement, “and looks forward to continuing to provide great service to its customers.”
LucidPoint and Fontaine are represented by five lawyers from Merchant & Gould.
