Articles Posted in Business Litigation

Some employers have confronted the situation where employees have taken corporate trade secrets to use in competition against their former employer, but the employees had not signed a non-compete agreement. Under Florida law, however, the fact that the former employees did not sign a non-compete agreement is not dispositive concerning whether the business may enforce…

In many business litigation cases, the issue of damages is an important issue at trial. For many cases, the parties will have expert witness on the issue of damages. Precedent from the United States Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 113 S.Ct. 2786 (1993), held that the “Frye standard,” i.e., the long…

Florida law has a statutory privilege concerning disclosure of trade secrets in a lawsuit. Florida Statutes Section 90.506 states in pertinent part: “A person has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent other persons from disclosing, a trade secret owned by that person if the allowance of the privilege will not conceal fraud…

Under Florida law, courts evaluate the enforceability of non-compete agreements based on Florida Statutes Section 542.335 as well as case law interpreting this statute. Under Section 542.335(1)(b), Florida Statutes, to establish that the contract restricting competition is itself lawful and enforceable, a party must simply “plead and prove the existence of one or more legitimate…

Commercial contracts often have dispute resolution provisions requiring the parties to the contract to have their claims decided in arbitration. Arbitration is legal proceeding decided by a private decisionmaker, i.e., a judge. Parties sometimes choose arbitration due to its more private approach and because the right to appeal is very limited. Courts consider at least…

Under Florida law, an underlying fraud can expose third parties to liability for the fraud. As Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal explained in Ramel v. Chasebrook Construction Co., 135 So.2d 876 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962), an underlying fraud exists when the defendant makes a false statement concerning a material fact, the defendant knows the…

Florida’s non-compete statute, Section 542.335, Florida Statutes, accords broad protection in favor of a business seeking to prevent former employees from competing with the business via goodwill with customers with whom the former employee dealt during his employment. In this regard, section 542.335(1)(b)(3) expressly considers a “legitimate business interest” to include “[s]ubstantial relationships with specific…

The plaintiff in a trade secret misappropriation case must prove it has a trade secret and the defendant misappropriated the trade secret. Humphreys & Associates, Inc. v. Cressman, 2015 WL 12698428 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 31, 2015) (“To succeed on a claim of trade secret misappropriation, the plaintiff must establish that (1) the plaintiff owned a…

The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), 18 U.S.C. section 1836, is the federal statute that provides a cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets. Under DTSA, “a court may” award (1) “damages for actual loss caused by the misapropriation of the trade secret,” (2) “damages for any unjust enrichment caused by the misappropriation of…

Businesses often work together to achieve common goals. In these cases, businesses can unwittingly expose themselves to each other’s liabilities through the creation of a joint venture. A “joint venture” is broadly defined as the formation of a relationship between two parties for purposes of generating profit. Haley v. C.I.R., 203 F.2d 815 (5th Cir.…