Philadelphia Office Favorably Resolves Contentious Commercial Dispute Involving Seven-Figure Demand

(June 2023) - Philadelphia Partner Gregory Hurchalla recently resolved a significant business dispute in Pennsylvania involving litigation between two environmental recycling and transportation businesses. In this matter, the plaintiff sought damages in the mid-seven figures as well as an injunction against Lewis Brisbois’ client, which would have greatly impaired its ability to operate in specific sectors.

In the complaint, the plaintiff included allegations that Lewis Brisbois’ client engaged in a mass hiring of a significant percentage of the plaintiff’s workforce and also took a significant percentage of the plaintiff’s customer base. The client and its employees were sued under a host of theories including tortious interference with business relations, tortious interference with contract, unfair competition, and violation of Pennsylvania’s Uniform Trade Secret Act. Further, a number of the client’s employees who were former employees of the plaintiff - some of which had non-competes - were also sued under similar counts.

Through a tactical strategy that included a very aggressive discovery practice involving asking for a host of the plaintiff’s sensitive business and client/customer information, successful filings of motions to compel to obtain these documents, a concerted effort to delay the injunction hearing to the point of irrelevancy, as well as levying arguments regarding the plaintiff’s lack of compliance with discovery, Greg was able to get both sides to the table to potentially negotiate a resolution. Once at the table, through a creative give-and-take process regarding a variety of shared business issues and concerns, Greg resolved this matter. The dispute that once involved a demand of millions of dollars from our client and/or its employees, ultimately settled without an injunction and without the company or its employees paying one cent.