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Denver Office Secures TRO in Minnesota Trade Secrets Matter

Denver, Colo. (July 17, 2019) – Denver Partner Jon Olafson and Associate Kayla Dreyer, with assistance from Associate David J. Carrier (at the time acting as local counsel for another firm, but now part of Lewis Brisbois' Minneapolis team), recently obtained a 30-day temporary restraining order (TRO) in a trade secrets matter for a client based in Minnesota. The Denver team drafted all the case materials and appeared in court with Mr. Carrier to successfully argue for the TRO against a former worker of our client. The case presented particularly egregious behavior from the defendant.

The client had decided to end a relationship with one of its workers, who had a significant sales role in the company. Despite establishing security protocols for its trade secrets and confidential and proprietary information, after the former worker left the company, the client discovered that the worker had been surreptitiously and systematically forwarding his work emails to personal email accounts. It was clear the former worker had access to confidential customer lists, pricing information, contracts, and other sensitive information on his personal devices, in direct violation of the company’s policies.

Furthermore, the client learned that the worker had installed a password decrypter on his work device and had created a document containing the account credentials of the company and its owners to access various websites. This was information the former worker was not authorized to have, even while he was working for the company. To make matters worse, the former worker made explicit threats to the company’s owners concerning this confidential information. Despite filing a police report, the former worker still retained our client’s trade secrets and continued his threats.

Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Olafson and Ms. Dreyer, the client was able to take possession of the former worker's devices and assess the extent of the trade secrets theft almost immediately. In addition to forbidding the former worker from using any of the client’s trade secrets going forward, the court also ordered forensic imaging of all of his devices and the return of all improperly acquired materials to our client for proper destruction.

This was a major victory for the client and they were extremely pleased with the outcome.

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