CINCINNATI (AP) - A company which provides school bus service around the nation is suing a former executive it accuses of stealing inside information to lure away customers.

Laidlaw Transit Inc. is demanding damages of at least $450,000 from defendants Peter J. Settle and his new competing company, Petermann Ltd.

Laidlaw is requesting court orders to prohibit Settle from interfering with Laidlaw's relationship with its customers and to keep Settle from using any of the confidential financial information Settle would have had from his executive job with Laidlaw.

Laidlaw filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court. It said Settle lured away one Laidlaw customer - the Hamilton County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities - this month and is competing to serve a second, the West Clermont County School District.

He most recently oversaw Laidlaw's national marketing, had access to confidential business information and had promised as part of a code of company conduct not to disclose or use that information outside of Laidlaw, its lawsuit alleged.