I continue to see a wide range of cases across the country where courts are granting TROs and preliminary injunctions to prevent departing employees from taking company confidential information, such as sales contacts, training materials, and business plans, to a competitor. Many of these decisions also involve contractual non-competes and non-solicits, and many states continue to aggressively enforce those restrictions to protect businesses. 

With the FTC's proposed ban on non-competes disappearing from the national radar, the importance of which state decides these issues has become all the more important. For companies looking to protect trade secrets, quick and decisive action to obtain a TRO and/or a preliminary injunction continues to be a powerful measure to protect the business. 

In a Wednesday order, U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson granted an emergency temporary restraining order to LeafFilter North LLC and two related entities against former executive Curtis Marshall.

Judge Pearson said Marshall was barred from further breaches of his employment agreement or from any misappropriation of trade secrets.

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According to LeafFilter, Marshall downloaded hundreds of files to an external device from LeafFilter's internal system between Dec. 23 and Dec. 30, some of which contained "highly confidential and proprietary business information and trade secrets that Marshall had no right to access, modify, or download."

Marshall allegedly accessed files on regional sales lists, sales representative training manuals and potential office openings, according to LeafFilter's motion for a temporary restraining order.

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