Employers faced with an apparent trade secret misappropriation by former employees must decide what jurisdiction to bring suit in. For an employer headquartered outside of California who employs California residents working primarily in California, choice of law and forum selection clauses favoring states other than California may be ineffective against them unless they had counsel who negotiated the provisions on their behalves. (Cal. Lab. Code § 925.) A recent California Court of Appeal decision highlighted this point, and found that where a California employee is sued by the employer for trade secret misappropriation in a separate state based on an out-of-state forum selection clause, the employee may separately sue in California to void the provision, despite the ongoing litigation in a sister state (See LGCY Power, LLC v. The Superior Court, 75 Cal. App. 5th 844 (2022).)
With the ever increasing move towards remote working, more and more out-of-state employers may find themselves in a California court pursuing or defending against claims that arose from an employment agreement that was ostensibly supposed to be litigated outside of California. Therefore, these employers should consider filing their offensive claims, such as those for misappropriation of trade secrets or breach of contract, in California to avoid the cost and risk of inconsistent results that may arise from simultaneous overlapping litigation in their home state and that of related employee claims in...
MUNCIE, IN — A Muncie man has been charged in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis with filing false COVID-19 claims. Gregory Vernon Dupree II, 38, in a federal indictment has been charged with eigh...