In many business litigation cases, the issue of damages is an important issue at trial. For many cases, the parties will have expert witness on the issue of damages. Precedent from the United States Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 113 S.Ct. 2786 (1993), held that the “Frye…
Florida law has a statutory privilege concerning disclosure of trade secrets in a lawsuit. Florida Statutes Section 90.506 states in pertinent part: “A person has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent other persons from disclosing, a trade secret owned by that person if the allowance of the…
Under Florida law, courts evaluate the enforceability of non-compete agreements based on Florida Statutes Section 542.335 as well as case law interpreting this statute. Under Section 542.335(1)(b), Florida Statutes, to establish that the contract restricting competition is itself lawful and enforceable, a party must simply “plead and prove the existence…
Commercial contracts often have dispute resolution provisions requiring the parties to the contract to have their claims decided in arbitration. Arbitration is legal proceeding decided by a private decisionmaker, i.e., a judge. Parties sometimes choose arbitration due to its more private approach and because the right to appeal is very…
Under Florida law, an underlying fraud can expose third parties to liability for the fraud. As Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal explained in Ramel v. Chasebrook Construction Co., 135 So.2d 876 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962), an underlying fraud exists when the defendant makes a false statement concerning a material fact,…
Florida’s non-compete statute, Section 542.335, Florida Statutes, accords broad protection in favor of a business seeking to prevent former employees from competing with the business via goodwill with customers with whom the former employee dealt during his employment. In this regard, section 542.335(1)(b)(3) expressly considers a “legitimate business interest” to…
The plaintiff in a trade secret misappropriation case must prove it has a trade secret and the defendant misappropriated the trade secret. Humphreys & Associates, Inc. v. Cressman, 2015 WL 12698428 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 31, 2015) (“To succeed on a claim of trade secret misappropriation, the plaintiff must establish that…
The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), 18 U.S.C. section 1836, is the federal statute that provides a cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets. Under DTSA, “a court may” award (1) “damages for actual loss caused by the misapropriation of the trade secret,” (2) “damages for any unjust enrichment…
Businesses often work together to achieve common goals. In these cases, businesses can unwittingly expose themselves to each other’s liabilities through the creation of a joint venture. A “joint venture” is broadly defined as the formation of a relationship between two parties for purposes of generating profit. Haley v. C.I.R.,…
The plain terms of a contract control the parties’ course of conduct for all matters subject to that contract’s terms. See Maher v. Schumacher, 605 So.2d 481 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (holding that the plain meaning of the contractual language used by the parties controls). The Court is prohibited from…