Barton & Associates Incorporated v. Trainor

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedOctober 15, 2020
Docket2:20-cv-01560
StatusUnknown

This text of Barton & Associates Incorporated v. Trainor (Barton & Associates Incorporated v. Trainor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barton & Associates Incorporated v. Trainor, (D. Ariz. 2020).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8

Barton & Associates Incorporated, ) No. CV-20-01560-PHX-SPL ) 9 ) 10 Plaintiff, ) ORDER vs. ) ) 11 ) Jamie Trainor, et al. ) 12 ) 13 Defendants. ) ) 14 ) 15 I. INTRODUCTION 16 Plaintiff Barton & Associates Incorporated is a physician staffing business (known 17 as a “locum tenens”) that recruits medical providers to fill temporary positions at various 18 facilities. (Doc. 12 at 3). Defendants are three individual former employees (Andre 19 Godbout, Kendall Guaglianone, and Jamie Trainor) (hereinafter “Employee Defendants”) 20 as well as the competitor business for which they now work (AB Staffing Solutions, LLC). 21 (Doc. 12 at 2). Barton alleges the Employee Defendants forwarded provider resumes and 22 other confidential documents from its database to their personal email accounts shortly 23 before leaving in breach of confidentiality provisions in their employment agreements, and 24 that AB Staffing is using the documents to gain an unfair advantage. (Doc. 12 at 2). 25 On August 5, 2020, Barton filed a Complaint in this Court alleging breach of 26 contract and conversion claims again Employee Defendants, and intentional interference 27 of contractual relations and unjust enrichment claims against AB Staffing. (Doc. 1). Barton 28 seeks injunctive relief as well as compensatory damages. (Doc. 1). On August 26, 2020, 1 Barton filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction (“PI”) seeking to enjoin Defendants from 2 keeping and using Barton’s documents (and information contained therein) and requesting 3 oral argument. (Doc. 12). The Court held oral argument on October 14, 2020. 4 II. BACKGROUND 5 Defendant Godbout was an Account Manager at Barton focused on locating and 6 engaging with Barton’s clients. (Doc. 12 at 2-3). Barton alleges Godbout sent himself a 7 confidential PowerPoint presentation with information about Barton’s sales strategies and 8 solicited Barton clients upon transferring to AB Staffing. (Doc. 12 at 2, 7-8); (Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 9 68, 71). Defendant Guaglianone was a Recruiter for Barton focused on locating and 10 building relationships with medical providers to later place with Barton’s clients. (Doc. 12 11 at 5). Barton alleges Guaglianone sent himself one curriculum vitae belonging to a Barton 12 medical provider along with a blank “provider timesheet.” (Doc. 12 at 2, 8). Godbout and 13 Guaglianone filed a joint Response arguing that the documents are not confidential because 14 they are otherwise available online on “job boards,” that none of the documents have been 15 given to or used at AB Staffing, and that all of the documents have since been returned to 16 Barton. (Doc. 37 at 4, 5, 6, 8). In its Reply (Doc. 41), Barton argues Godbout and 17 Guaglianone did not return the documents until after Barton filed the PI Motion. (Doc. 41 18 at 3). Though they have since been returned, Barton argues a PI is necessary to prevent 19 Defendants’ continued use and disclosure of them. (Doc. 41 at 3). 20 Defendant Trainor was also a Recruiter at Barton. (Doc. 12 at 3, 5). Barton alleges 21 Trainor sent himself resumes and curricula vitae of 42 medical providers, several of whom 22 now work with AB Staffing, as well as a blank “provider timesheet.” (Doc. 12 at 2, 5, 7); 23 (Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 58, 60). In response, Defendant Trainor also argues the curricula vitae are 24 not confidential because they are publicly available and, even if they were confidential, 25 Barton has not been harmed because the only provider who was not already in AB 26 Staffing’s system previously advised Trainor she would not work with Barton again. (Doc. 27 30 at 1-2, 3-4). Trainor also argues that he has returned all the documents to Barton and no 28 longer has access to them. (Doc. 30 at 4). In its Reply (Doc. 33), Barton asserts that, 1 although the documents have been returned, it has “compelling evidence” that the content 2 of the resumes “continue[] to reside” in AB Staffing’s database. (Doc. 33 at 5).1 3 AB Staffing is another locum tenens company for which Employee Defendants now 4 work. (Doc. 12 at 2). Barton argues AB Staffing hired Employee Defendants knowing they 5 worked for Barton and, after receiving a cease and desist letter from Barton, knew of the 6 Employees confidentiality obligations but nonetheless continues to use the confidential 7 documents to gain an unfair advantage. (Doc. 12 at 2, 8-9). In response, AB Staffing also 8 disputes the confidential nature of the resumes and argues it was not aware of any alleged 9 breaches of the employment agreements (nor did it induce them). (Doc. 38 at 2). AB 10 Staffing further argues that Barton waited too long after the alleged breaches to seek the PI 11 such that Barton cannot show irreparable injury. (Doc. 38 at 2-3). In its Reply (Doc. 40), 12 Barton asserts AB Staffing allowed Defendant Trainor to upload the resumes into its 13 system and, after receiving a demand letter from Barton, failed to take any remedial action. 14 (Doc. 40 at 5-6). Regarding the delay in seeking the PI, Barton blames the pandemic in 15 part, and also blames Employee Defendants for misleading it to believe they were not 16 entering the locum tenens industry such that it felt no need to urgently investigate their 17 post-employment activities. (Doc. 40 at 9-10). 18 III. LEGAL STANDARD 19 A preliminary injunction is an “extraordinary remedy that may only be awarded 20 upon a clear showing that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief.” Titaness Light Shop, LLC 21 v. Sunlight Supply, Inc., 585 F. App’x 390, 391 (9th Cir. 2014) (quoting Winter v. Nat. Res. 22 Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 22 (2008). An injunction may be granted only where the 23 movant shows that “he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to suffer 24

25 1 Barton also asserts for the first time in its Reply that it “expects to show” that Employee Defendants have confidential information on their cell phones. (Doc. 33 at 3, 4 n.2). 26 Because this argument was raised for the first time in the Reply, and at oral argument 27 Barton made clear the allegation is purely speculative, this allegation will not be considered. See Zamani v. Carnes, 491 F.3d 990, 997 (9th Cir. 2007) (“The district court 28 need not consider arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief.”). 1 irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips in his 2 favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest.” Herb Reed Enterprises, LLC v. Fla. 3 Entm’t Mgmt., Inc., 736 F.3d 1239, 1247 (9th Cir. 2013) (quoting Winter, 555 U.S. at 20). 4 As a threshold matter, if the moving party fails to demonstrate likelihood of success 5 on the merits, the court need not address the remaining elements. Garcia v. Google, Inc., 6 786 F.3d 733, 740 (9th Cir. 2015). However, the four factors may be evaluated on a sliding 7 scale under this Circuit’s “serious questions” test: “[a] preliminary injunction is appropriate 8 when a plaintiff demonstrates that serious questions going to the merits were raised and the 9 balance of hardships tips sharply in the plaintiff’s favor.” Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. 10 Cottrell, 632 F. 3d 1127, 1134-35 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Lands Council v. McNair, 537 11 F.3d 981, 987 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc)) (internal quotations omitted). “Of course, plaintiffs 12 must also satisfy the other Winter factors . . . a likelihood of irreparable injury and [a 13 showing] that the injunction is in the public interest.” Id. at 1135. 14 IV.

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