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Jury Verdict : Legal Battle After Dairy Feed Workers Formed Rival Company

Cargill and Can claimed $10.4 million in damages as a result of the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of the confidentiality agreement. On Jan. 31, 2007, Matt Budine, Brian Sundberg and Luciana Jonkman left plaintiff Cargill Incorporated to form their own dairy-nutrition consulting business, Progressive Dairy Solutions Inc. The employees had worked in Cargill's dairy feed division, and were allegedly unhappy with Cargill's feed-formulation practices. Cargill and Can Technologies, a subsidiary, sued Budine, Sundberg, Jonkman and Progressive Dairy, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, conversion, breach of confidentiality agreements and breach of loyalty. The plaintiffs alleged that the former employees departed with nutritional data and customer feed formulas. A temporary restraining order was issued for production of computer data. Immediately upon filing the lawsuit, Cargill launched a massive press campaign designed to advise the dairy industry that a suit had been filed and the reasons for litigation. The company also sent over 300 letters to dairy customers to advise them of the litigation and alleged reasons. The defendants denied misappropriation of trade secrets or confidential information. They filed a counterclaim, alleging that Cargill had engaged in unfair business practices, and that the true motive behind the lawsuit was to launch a press-and-media campaign designed to crush the defendants' new business and disparage their reputations. The counterclaim is still pending before the court. VerdictSearch California Reporter Vol. 7, Issue 36

Full post as published by The Trade Secrets Vault on September 06, 2008 (boomark / email).