On March 5, 2014, the Delaware Chancery Court awarded damages to an employer against a former employee who, using the employer’s information, had started to compete directly with the employer, despite the absence of any non-compete agreement or any finding of trade secret misappropriation. Wayman Fire Protection (Wayman) brought suit against former employee Weitzel and others. Wayman alleged that after being fired by Wayman, Weitzel started competing directly with Wayman by bringing Wayman employees to his firm, and that those employees had taken with them Wayman’s proprietary information. The complaint alleged that, using this information, Weitzel won a bidding war against his prior employer.
After dismissing Wayman’s claims for tortious interference and misappropriation of trade secrets, the Chancery Court went on to find that Weitzel had indeed violated the Delaware Misuse of Computer System Information Act, and had also violated his fiduciary duty to Wayman. In addition, the court found Premium Fire liable as a conspirator, resulting in joint and several liability, and awarded Wayman over $85,000 in damages as well as attorney’s fees.
Thus, the court found that even absent a non-compete agreement or misappropriation of trade secrets, Wayman was still entitled to relief. This creative damages award suggests that new avenues for relief may be available for plaintiff employers seeking recovery from past employees, even in cases that fall short of trade secret misappropriation, and even where the company has failed to obtain a non-compete agreement from the employee at issue.