HR tech giant Deel says it has formally accepted to be served legal documents in its ongoing court battle with rival Rippling in Ireland.
This ends weeks of suspense after Ripplings bailiffs couldnt find Deels execs to serve them only for Deels CEO and top lawyer to turn up in Dubai.Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz, along with Deel lawyers Asif Malik and Andrea David Mieli, all agreed to accept service through Deels Irish law firm today, Deel confirmed to A Technology NewsRoom.
Deel Inc., which is Deels United States entity, was already served on April 16, an affidavit filed by Rippling this morning in Irish court shows.Today in court in Dublin Hayes Solicitors agreed to accept service on behalf of all four parties, a Deel spokesperson told A Technology NewsRoom.In the affidavit filed this morning, Rippling repeated that it hadnt been able to serve Bouaziz, Malik, and Mieli, detailing its efforts to do so in France and Italy.
For example, Rippling hired French bailiffs to serve Bouaziz at a listed address in Paris on April 10, but only stumbled upon a relative who told them Bouaziz was in Dubai.On April 15, A Technology NewsRoom reported Bouaziz was in Dubai, with Deel not responding to requests for comment at the time.
However, 10 days later, Deel told A Technology NewsRoom that Bouaziz lives in Israel and was only in Dubai for a few days to celebrate Passover.A Technology NewsRoom asked Deel if it can clarify where Bouaziz is currently located, but Deel declined, citing privacy reasons.Deel slammed the idea that its executives have been avoiding getting served, despite Ripplings failed attempts to do so through various process servers.
Its a misrepresentation that anyone was avoiding service and that narrative was clearly being used as a public smear tactic, Deels spokesperson said.Deel told A Technology NewsRoom that Maliks move to Dubai had been planned for over a year, well before Ripplings lawsuit.
Regarding Andrea David Mieli, whom Rippling said in their affidavit they had been unable to serve in Italy, Deel said he lives and works from home in Italy and was available.The lawsuit centers on Ripplings claims that Deel bribed one of its employees in Ireland, Keith OBrien, to spy on its internal affairs on behalf of Deel.
And OBrien himself testified that he had been spying in a lengthy affidavit.After weeks of silence, Deel is very publicly fighting back, filing a countersuit in the United States last week, making various accusations against Rippling, including that it cultivated its own insider inside Deel.In response, Rippling CEO Parker Conrad took to X to post, Nowhere does Deel dispute our central allegation that @Bouazizalex personally recruited a spy to steal ripplings trade secrets, and personally directed the theft.Rippling did not respond to a request for comment.