A California state jury awarded Propel Fuels, Inc. $604.9 million in damages after finding Phillips 66 Company liable for trade secret misappropriation. Propel Fuels, Inc. v. Phillips 66 Co., Case No. 22CV007197 (Cal. Oct....more
8/15/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Business Litigation ,
California ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Damages ,
Due Diligence ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Jury Trial ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
A nearly decade-long legal battle in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently concluded with a significant jury verdict, underscoring the potentially severe consequences of trade secret theft...more
7/11/2025
/ Business Litigation ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Damages ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Jury Awards ,
Jury Trial ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Popular ,
Punitive Damages ,
Trade Secrets
On April 22, 2025, the Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of a sales manager and his new employer on claims under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), the Oklahoma Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“OUTSA”), and...more
On March 27, 2025, in Stimlabs LLC v. Griffiths, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ordered a former executive, Sarah Griffiths, to face claims related to her alleged theft of Stimlab’s trade secrets...more
On March 13, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a trade secret misappropriation claim under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), finding that the employer failed to plead it had...more
On February 20, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed a trade secret misappropriation claim for failing to identify explicit language establishing an expectation of privacy to the...more
On December 3, 2024, a U.S District Court for the District of Massachusetts jury awarded Plaintiff Insulet Corporation $452 million in compensatory and punitive damages after finding Defendants willfully misappropriated...more
1/23/2025
/ Business Litigation ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Damages ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Misappropriation ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Punitive Damages ,
Technology Sector ,
Trade Secrets
An American Arbitration Association arbitrator recently awarded Black Knight, Inc. (BK) $155M stemming from Pennymac Loan Services, LLC’s (Pennymac) alleged use of its mortgage-loan servicing platform to develop its own...more
On November 1, 2023, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California awarded damages to Skye Orthobiologics, LLC (“Skye”) and Human Regenerative Technologies, LLC (“HRT”) for breach of contract,...more
3/6/2024
/ Biomedical Companies ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Contract Terms ,
Damages ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Independent Contractors ,
Jury Awards ,
Misappropriation ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Trade Secrets
Forfeiture clauses are one tactic. They provide a meaningful disincentive for employees to engage in competitive behavior.
Noncompetes are under siege on multiple fronts.
Originally published in Legal Dive - September...more
9/18/2023
/ Audits ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Retention ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Forfeiture ,
Human Capital ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Proposed Rules
Over the past few years, states across the country have sought to limit or reduce the use of employee non-compete agreements. While some states have imposed outright bans on such agreements, many more have passed laws that...more
11/19/2021
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Regulations ,
Low-Wage Workers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws
As noted in our previous post, in May 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), which establishes a federal cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets into law. As part of its protections,...more
On September 27, 2016, Proskauer Partner Steven J. Pearlman, co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation Practice Group, participated in a Bloomberg webinar with Jane Norberg, Acting Chief of the SEC Office of the...more
9/30/2016
/ Best Practices ,
Confidential Information ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FOIA ,
Internal Investigations ,
OSHA ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Webinars ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers
On June 23, 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Quinlan v. Curtiss-Wright Corporation, 204 N.J. 239 (2010), does not bar criminal prosecutions arising from an employee’s removal of confidential company documents to...more