Trade secret theft garners no damage award

Even if you are in the right when you file a lawsuit against a former employee who admittedly took your trade secrets, sometimes the reward is simply not worth the expense. Here, an employer had a former manager dead to rights in misappropriating trade secrets but still couldn’t get a jury to award a dime. Who was the prevailing party?

Employee takes the ‘Good Stuff’

Applied Medical Distribution Corporation sells and distributes medical devices produced by its parent company, Applied Medical Resources. Stephen Jarrells began working for Applied as a director of academic medical centers in January 2011.

At the time he was hired, Jarrells and Applied entered into a proprietary information agreement, in which he agreed “to hold in strictest confidence, and not to use except for the benefit of the Company, or to disclose to any person, firm or corporation without written authorization of the Board of Directors of the Company, any trade secrets, confidential knowledge, data or other proprietary information.” He also agreed at termination he would “deliver to the Company (and will not keep in my possession, recreate or deliver to anyone else) any and all devices, records, data, notes, reports, proposals, lists, correspondence, specifications, drawings, blueprints, sketches, materials, equipment, other [Applied] documents or property.”