National Elevator Cab & Door Corp. v. H & B, Inc., 2008 WL 207843 (E.D.N.Y.) No. 07 CV 1562

United States Magistrate Judge Levy recently denied a motion for reconsideration after he granted the plaintiff National Elevator Cab & Door Corp.’s motion for a preliminary injunction against defendant H & B, Inc. The litigation stems from the failed acquisition talks between National (a supplier of elevator entrances and cabs in the New York metropolitan area) and H & B (also an elevator cab and entrance supplier, working nationally and internationally), and the resulting alleged breaches of non-compete and confidentiality provisions in an agreement between the two parties.

In 2005, H & B, having little presence in the New York metropolitan market, expressed interest in acquiring National. During discussions between the two corporations, National asked H & B to sign an agreement stating that if the acquisition did not occur, H & B would not solicit business with three of National’s customers (Fujitec New York, ThyssenKrupp Elevator, and the New York City Housing Authority) for five years, would not use National’s confidential information or intellectual property to compete with National, would not test or reverse engineer National’s products, and would not solicit National employees for three years. H & B signed the agreement, and National eventually disclosed such information to H & B as its business model, marketing strategies, internal projections for sales and expenses, and information on its pricing, outsourcing, gross margins, and annual sales.

The acquisition discussions failed, and H & B eventually began to do business with Fujitec and solicited National employees. H & B admitted these facts, but argued that the terms of the agreement were unenforceable. National was granted a preliminary injunction against H & B, and H & B moved for reconsideration.

In evaluating the motion, Judge Levy discussed whether National had demonstrated that it would suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction. He noted that not only would it be difficult to calculate monetary damages to redress National’s losses, but also that in the agreement, H & B expressed admitted that money damages would be an insufficient remedy for breach. Judge Levy found that National made a sufficient showing that H & B’s continued solicitation of the three specified National customers would result in irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction. Although H & B argued that it had been unsuccessful in attracting business from two of the three specified customers, Judge Levy declared that National “need not wait until its relationships…are damaged before seeking an injunction.”

Next, Judge Levy reviewed whether National was likely to succeed on the merits of its claims, first analyzing the non-compete and non-solicitation provisions of the agreement. He noted that a non-compete covenant must pass a reasonableness test, and New York courts will only enforce such a provision between businesses where it protects a legitimate business interest, and its terms are reasonable, both temporally and geographically. Judge Levy expressly held that the agreement was reasonable and did not impose undue restraint on competition, because it applied only to three identified customers in one market (the New York metropolitan area). He noted that the customers were not obliged to work with National, but instead could employ other suppliers, and as such, the anti-competitive effects were not so great as to outweigh the harm to National.

Finally, Judge Levy addressed the confidentiality provisions of the agreement. He outlined the factors that New York courts consider in determining whether information constitutes a trade secret: the extent to which the information is known to the public, the extent to which it is known by employees and others in the business, what measures are taken to protect the information, the value of the information to the business and its competitor, the amount of effort or money used by the business to develop the information, and the ease or difficulty with which the information could be acquired by others.

Judge Levy found that the information given to H & B was confidential, and that National had taken adequate steps to guard this information. Despite the fact that National presented no evidence that H & B misused some of its information, Judge Levy found that H & B attempted to procure some of the materials from a mutual client of the two businesses after the acquisition talks failed and it was forced to return what it had been given. Thus, Judge Levy reasoned, the materials contained information that was valuable and not publicly available at the time. Additionally, Judge Levy noted that almost immediately after receiving National’s materials, H & B began offering installation (which it had never done before), changed its design, and was able to successfully attract one of National’s clients. Finding the timing more than merely coincidental, Judge Levy held that H & B violated the terms of the agreement, and further held that the confidentiality provisions were enforceable. Thus, H & B’s motion for reconsideration was denied.