Fair Hair—The Hair Club for Men is suing a New Jersey woman for setting up a rival company and taking clients with her after being fired from the Hair Club in 2014.

A complaint filed Oct. 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey accuses Donna DeFranco of breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference and unfair competition. DeFranco, who was fired by the Hair Club in March 2014 for violating company confidentiality policies, established her own cosmetics business, Ger'don, with her daughter in Fairfield, violating a noncompete agreement she had entered into with the company, according to the complaint. The agreement said she could not compete with the Hair Club in the business of hair replacement within a 20-mile radius of the company's Elmwood Park location. Her new location is 15 miles from the Hair Club, the complaint says.

DeFranco had also agreed not to solicit clients or employees from the Hair Club, according to the complaint, and a customer informed the company that an employee was planning to switch over to DeFranco's new shop. The complaint says the Hair Club lost more than 30 clients who had previously been serviced by DeFranco.