Pinterest should now face a lawsuit from a former good friend of certainly one of its founders who claims she helped create the platform. Bloomberg reported that Alameda County Superior Court docket Decide Richard Seabolt on Thursday denied the corporate’s movement to dismiss the lawsuit. Christine Martinez, the plaintiff, claims she was requested by co-founder Ben Silbermann to assist revive the app. The digital market strategist claims to have developed options tied to Pinterest’s and created a advertising and marketing plan to enlist bloggers to advertise the platform, amongst different contributions.
Martinez filed a lawsuit in opposition to the corporate in September, and Pinterest filed the movement to dismiss in December. The corporate argued that Martinez’s claims are too previous to fall throughout the statute of limitations. Seabolt disagreed with this and stated Martinez “sufficiently alleges” that she and the Pinterest founders agreed to deferred compensation. Pinterest went public in 2019, an occasion that Seabolt deemed “transformative” and in his view sealed the corporate’s obligation to pay Martinez.
In an announcement to Fullgist, Pinterest’s chief communications officer LeMia Jenkins Thompson famous that the courtroom dismissed a number of of Martinez’s claims. Thompson additionally acknowledged that, “because the details come out, we’re assured the proof will affirm that Plaintiff’s claims are meritless and that the remainder of this baseless lawsuit must be dismissed.”
Based on the New York Times, Martinez was by no means formally employed at nor did she ever signal a written contract with the San Francisco-based firm. As a substitute, Martinez argues that the settlement was implied, based mostly on her discussions with Sciarra and Silbermann.
Martinez, who’s a former life-style blogger and founding father of an eccomerce startup, informed the Instances she was keen to assist pals. “[…The Pinterest co-founders] had no advertising and marketing background or experience in making a product for girls.”
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