damages

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The District of Maryland recently awarded a software developer a mere $1.00 in nominal damages for contract and trade secret claims against a former employee, citing the immateriality of defendant’s breach and plaintiff’s failure to prove a fair licensing price for its misappropriation damages.

In AirFacts, Inc. v. de Amezaga, AirFacts, a developer of accounting software for airlines, filed suit against Diego de Amezaga, its former director of product development, alleging that de Amezaga’s subsequent employment violated his employment agreement with AirFacts and that de Amezaga had misappropriated various trade secrets.Continue Reading Federal Court Awards Company Only $1.00 in Damages in Misappropriation Case against Former Employee

On Thursday, May 6 at 12 p.m. Eastern, Seyfarth partner Erik Weibust and NERA director Kristopher Boushie will be presenting “Trade Secret Identification and Damages,” a webinar in NERA Economic Consulting’s Developments in Trade Secret Litigation webinar series. This webinar will cover relevant state and federal trade secret statues, discovery issues, and available non-monetary and monetary remedies, including:

  • What constitutes

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Continue Reading Erik Weibust to Present Trade Secrets Webinar for NERA Economic Consulting

On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, at 1 p.m. Eastern, Houston partner Jesse Coleman and Boston partner Erik Weibust are presenting a webinar entitled “Available Remedies for Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Cases” for the Federal Bar Association and myLawCLE. Register for the webinar at the myLawCLE website. CLE credits are available, and an on-demand version of the webinar will be available following the live webinar. Below is a description of the program and an outline of the topics covered.

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Continue Reading Jesse Coleman and Erik Weibust to Present Webinar on “Available Remedies for Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Cases”

On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Houston partner Jesse Coleman and Boston Partner Erik Weibust presented a webinar entitled “Recovering Damages for Breach of Restrictive Covenants” for Strafford. The webinar can be downloaded and viewed on demand at Strafford’s website. CLE credits are available. Below is a description of the program and an outline of the topics covered.

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When a current or former employee breaches restrictive covenants in an employment agreement, such as a noncompetition, non-solicitation, or nondisclosure agreement, the employer may often, depending on the jurisdiction, pursue damages against the employee as well as injunctive relief. Quantifying the damages to the business resulting from the breach of covenant can be challenging.
Continue Reading Jesse Coleman and Erik Weibust Present Webinar on “Recovering Damages for Breach of Restrictive Covenants” for Strafford

As we have previously reported, courts across the country are adjourning most appearances, including trials, and hearing only “emergency matters” during the current COVID-19 crisis. As a result, obtaining emergency injunctive relief may be more difficult than in normal circumstances. And attempting to obtain injunctive relief to enforce non-compete agreements against employees who are laid off, while permissible in a majority of states, may be particularly difficult now given that we are quickly entering (if not already in) a period of high unemployment. At the same time, some employers are loosening security measures in the name of convenience and efficiency for remote workers, potentially making trade secret misappropriation easier (we have provided tips for avoiding just that). But that does not mean employers are out of luck if an employee (or someone else) misappropriates its trade secrets or steals its customers. Companies that are genuinely and immediately harmed by trade secret misappropriation and breach of restrictive covenants should still seriously consider seeking injunctive relief, particularly if the activity is causing significant harm to their business. Damages are always an available, if not immediate, remedy, however, where injunctive relief may not be practical.
Continue Reading Emergency Injunction Not in the Cards? Damages May Be Your Winning Hand

This post originally appeared on the Workplace Class Action blog. 

Seyfarth Synopsis: On February 1, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina entered an order granting in part, and denying in part, the plaintiff’s motion for class certification in a no-hire antitrust case entitled Seaman v. Duke University, 1:15-CV-462, at 1-2 (M.D.N.C. Feb. 1, 2018) (A copy of the decision can be found here.) The case was brought against Duke University, Duke University Health System (collectively “Duke”), and various University of North Carolina entities and one of its executives (collectively “UNC”). The complaint alleged that the defendants had entered into an agreement not to hire each other’s medical faculty employees in violation of federal antitrust laws. With some notable exceptions it has been difficult for plaintiffs to achieve class certification in wage suppression cases such as Seaman. The ruling is a “must read” for employers, as the Court’s reasoning and conclusions make it difficult to predict whether this case will be helpful to the plaintiffs’ bar in other cases.

Background To The Case

Seaman, an Assistant Professor of Radiology at Duke, contended that she applied for a position at UNC in 2015. She alleged that she was denied consideration due to an agreement among the Duke and UNC defendants that they would not hire each another’s medical faculty employees unless the hire involved a promotion. Seaman alleged that this agreement not only suppressed the compensation of defendants’ medical faculty members, but also their other skilled medical employees. Thus, Seaman sought to certify a class consisting not only of defendants’ medical faculty members, but also their physicians, nurses, and skilled medical staff. Id. at 1-2.
Continue Reading Court Certifies Class In Duke-UNC No-Hire Workplace Antitrust Lawsuit

In Hallmark Cards Inc. v. Monitor Clipper Partners LLC et al., 2014 WL 3409953 (8th Cir. July 15, 2014), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a $31.3 million dollar jury verdict, which included $10 million in punitive damages, in favor of Hallmark Cards, Inc. (“Hallmark”) against a private equity firm known as Monitor Clipper Partners…
Continue Reading Eighth Circuit Affirms $31.1 Million Dollar Jury Verdict in Favor of Hallmark Cards over Private Equity Firm

The usual measure of monetary damages for violation of a covenant not to compete, even where the violator was paid a discreet sum for the covenant, is the amount that puts the injured party in the same position it would have been in if the contract had been performed.  Briggs v. GLA Water Management, 2014 Ohio 1551 (Ohio App., …
Continue Reading Ohio Court Issues Significant Non-Compete Decision: Damages for a Breach are the Payor’s Lost Profits, Not the Amount of Consideration

Can Oregon employers bring conversion claims against employees who misappropriate confidential information without having their claims preempted by the state’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act? According to a recent Oregon federal district court opinion, the answer is “yes”; however, in several other states, the answer is “no”.

This result highlights the continued divergence of opinion across the nation…

Continue Reading Conversion Claim for Theft of Confidential Information Not Preempted By Trade Secrets Act