By TIM MCLAUGHLIN
Boston Business Journal

Starbucks Corp. says in a federal lawsuit it lost a key veteran executive to Dunkin' Donuts and wants a Seattle judge to stop him from working there.

Starbucks, which has a stock-market value of $15 billion, filed the lawsuit against Paul Twohig, who oversaw the company's retail operations in the Southeast before joining Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Donuts empire. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Starbucks accuses Twohig of breaching an 18-month noncompete agreement. Twohig was responsible for developing the Seattle coffeemaker's brand for thousands of retail stores. He left Starbucks in March, according to the lawsuit. Several months later, Starbucks rejected Twohig's request to be released from the noncompete pact.

Using Internet searches, Starbucks said it discovered that Twohig apparently accepted a position with Dunkin' Donuts as its brand operations officer.