Catagory:Case Summaries

Liturgical Publ’ns, Inc. v. Karides, 2006 WL 931892 (Wis. Ct. App. Apr. 12, 2006) (Unpublished)

In this case, plaintiff asserted claims for employee disloyalty, misappropriation of trade secrets and computer theft against two former employees and their competing company. The trial court dismissed several claims on summary judgment, including the computer theft claim. After a jury trial on the remaining claims resulted in a defense verdict, plaintiff appealed. In conjunction with arguing that the trial court erred in dismissing its claim for computer theft, plaintiff argued that the trial court erroneously exercised its discretion by denying its motion to compel additional discovery on the issue. Read More

ACS Consultant Co., Inc. v. Williams, 2006 WL 897559 (E.D. Mich. Apr. 6, 2006)

In this case, plaintiff was in the business of providing information technology and management consultant services, principally to health care providers. Defendants were former employees and a company in which one of the former employees was a principal. After discovering evidence that the individual defendants had violated the terms of their employment contracts, plaintiff terminated them and filed an 11 count verified complaint seeking injunctive and other relief. Plaintiff obtained a TRO enjoining the defendants from violating the terms of their employment agreements, and also sought a preliminary injunction. Following a hearing during which the court took evidence regarding the alleged wrongful acts by defendants, the court granted a preliminary injunction enjoining defendants, among other things: Read More

Rodriguez v. City of Fresno, 2006 WL 903675 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 7, 2006)

In this civil rights action stemming from plaintiffs’ arrest, the court granted in part and denied in part plaintiffs’ motion to compel production of documents and responses to interrogatories. Among other things, plaintiffs sought the production of electronic documents relating to the arrest and detention of plaintiffs. With little discussion of particulars (including what constituted “Exhibit K” referenced below), the court ruled as follows: Read More

Creative Sci. Sys., Inc. v. Forex Capital Mkts., LLC, 2006 WL 870973 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 4, 2006) (Unpublished)

In this case involving copyright infringement and related claims, plaintiff moved for sanctions, claiming that defendant had not complied with the court’s Preservation Order. Plaintiff sought monetary sanctions, an adverse inference instruction, and an order barring defendant from presenting a particular defense. Ultimately, the court denied the non-monetary sanctions, ordered the defendant to cover the cost of plaintiff’s expert’s forensic analysis of certain computer servers, and imposed monetary sanctions for defendant’s failure to preserve an employee’s notebook. Read More

Adams v. Gateway, Inc., No. 2:02-CV-106 TS (D. Utah Mar. 6, 2006) (memorandum decision and order on de novo review of magistrate judge’s reports and recommendations and imposing sanctions)

In this patent case, the U.S. District Court judge adopted two (sealed) Reports and Recommendations prepared by the magistrate judge which found that the defendant had spoliated and failed to disclose evidence, and recommended the imposition of sanctions. Issued under seal on March 6, 2006, the court’s decision adopting the magistrate’s recommendations was unsealed on March 22, 2006. Read More

Balboa Threadworks, Inc. v. Stucky, 2006 WL 763668 (D. Kan. Mar. 24, 2006)

Plaintiffs sued under the Copyright Act and the Lanham Act, claiming that defendants wrongfully copied digital embroidery designs and then sold the designs to at least one third party. Defendants filed a counterclaim and third party complaint alleging fraud and civil conspiracy. Read More

Tessera, Inc. v. Micron Tech., Inc., 2006 WL 733498 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 22, 2006)

The plaintiff in this case licenses its semiconductor packaging technology directly to semiconductor manufacturers; typically, licensing agreements require the semiconductor manufacturers to pay plaintiff royalties on the volume of synchcronous RDRAM chips sold which uses its semiconductor packaging technology. Plaintiff’s complaint alleged patent infringement, antitrust violations and various state law claims against various semiconductor manufacturers. Plaintiff alleged that defendants unlawfully colluded with others to boycott the synchronous RDRAM chip to reduce demand for them and artificially inflate the price of pre-existing and inferior DRAM chips for their own financial gain. Plaintiff alleged that defendants’ actions deprived the company of significant royalties. Read More

Bob Barker Co. v. Ferguson Safety Prods., Inc., 2006 WL 648674 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2006)

In this action for Lanham Act violations and related claims, the plaintiff moved to compel defendants to produce further documents in response to requests seeking various financial information. The defendants contended that the requests were overbroad and that, as a small business operation, they did not maintain many of the kinds of records sought. Read More

Hagenbuch v. 3B6 Sistemi Elettronici Industriali S.R.L., 2006 WL 665005 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 8, 2006)

In this patent infringement case, the defendant required plaintiff to come to its Rockford, Illinois offices in order to inspect defendant’s documents and things and to designate those documents and things that plaintiff deemed responsive to his request for production. Plaintiff inspected defendant’s Rockford, Illinois office and designated numerous documents and electronic media consisting of compact discs, floppy discs, and/or DVDs, for copying by the copying service arranged for by defendant. Initially, defendant refused to permit copying of the designated electronic media, offering instead to print out and deliver to plaintiff hard copies of all of the documents contained on the designated discs and DVDs. Plaintiff refused this offer and insisted on receiving identical, electronic copies of the electronic media. Ultimately, defendant decided (against the protests of plaintiff) to convert all of the information on the original electronic media into Tagged Image File Format (“TIFF”) documents that were then downloaded onto compact discs and delivered to plaintiff. According to plaintiff, the compact discs produced by the defendant contained approximately 15,000 TIFF documents. Read More

Ayers v. SGS Control Servs., 2006 WL 618786 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 9, 2006)

Plaintiffs sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), alleging that defendants, through their payroll practices, failed to compensate their employees for overtime work. Plaintiffs requested that defendants be ordered to produce a tabulation containing mathematical information regarding payroll and timekeeping data. Defendants claimed that the tabulation was protected by the work product privilege. Read More