Eurecat US, Inc. v. Marklund

527 S.W.3d 367, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 4943, 2017 WL 2367545
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 31, 2017
DocketNO. 14-15-00418-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 527 S.W.3d 367 (Eurecat US, Inc. v. Marklund) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eurecat US, Inc. v. Marklund, 527 S.W.3d 367, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 4943, 2017 WL 2367545 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

J. Brett Busby, Justice

Appellees Soren Marldund and Douglas Wene started a business, Chem 32, LLC, in competition with their former employer, appellant Eurecat U.S., Inc. Eurecat sued all three appellees, seeking injunctive relief as well as monetary damages. After a lengthy trial, the jury found in favor of appellees on all of Eurecat’s claims except its breach of contract action against Wene. The parties submitted their claims for attorneys’ fees to the trial court. The trial court signed a final judgment awarding Eurecat: (1) $15,200 damages for Wene’s breach of contract, (2) $15,000 in attorneys’ fees, and (3) prejudgment and post-judgment interest. The final judgment also awarded appellees, as the prevailing parties on Eurecat’s claim under the Texas Theft Liability Act, $600,000 in attorneys’ fees.

[371]*371Eurecat appeals from the trial court’s judgment, raising ten issues. We first revisit the trial court’s protective order preventing broad third-party discovery by Eurecat and conclude that it was within the trial court’s discretion given evidence that Eurecat breached the parties’ confidentiality agreement and sought to use the discovery process and contacts with third parties to harm Chem32 as a competitor. As to Eurecat’s claims of breach of fiduciary duty, we hold that the evidence did not support Eurecat’s requested instructions and that sufficient evidence supports the jury’s failure to find a breach. We also conclude that the trial court properly directed a verdict against many of Eurecat’s claims for breach of confidentiality agreements because it failed to show that one agreement was made and that others were supported by consideration. Finally, we hold that under the charge as given, sufficient evidence supports the jury’s failure to find that another confidentiality agreement was breached. We therefore affirm the judgment.

Background

A. Eurecat hires Marklund and Wene.

Eurecat is a subsidiary of Eurecat, S.A., a French company. Eurecat operates in the specialized field of off-site catalyst activation in North and South America.1 Beginning in 1996, Marklund served as the president of Eurecat, though he was employed by another company.2 Marklund became a Eurecat employee in 2006 and signed an employment contract—styled “Letter Agreement”—at that time. Mark-lund’s job as president was to “direct the business of the company, to hire people, manage all different kind of legal affairs, and to do the best to promote the growth and the future of the company.” The Letter Agreement provided that Marklund was an at-will employee. The Letter Agreement did not contain a non-compete clause. Eurecat contends that Marklund also signed two Patent and Trade Secret Agreements, but those agreements are not in our record.

Wene began working for Eurecat in 1999 as the company’s production manager. Wene’s title changed soon afterward to plant manager. Wene explained that the changed title more accurately reflected his actual responsibilities at Eurecat’s manufacturing plant. Wene reported directly to Marklund. Like Marklund, Wene was an at-will employee who did not sign a covenant not to compete.

Wene did sign a Patent and Trade Secret Agreement when he began work in 1999. Wene promised in that agreement that he would “use his best efforts and utmost diligence to guard and protect [Eurecat’s] trade secrets and confidential information.” Wene also agreed that during or after his employment with Eurecat he would not “use for himself or others, or divulge to others any of [Eurecat’s] trade secrets or confidential information which he may develop, obtain or learn about during or as a result of his employment by [372]*372[Eurecat].... ” Wene also agreed that, upon the termination of his employment, he would not take with him, and would leave with Eurecat, all records, papers, and “all matter of whatever nature which contain [Eurecat] trade secrets or confidential information.” The agreement defined both trade secrets and confidential information as

any information received from and concerning the affairs of EURECAT U[.]S. or AFFILIATED COMPANIES, such as products, methods, compilations, lists of customers, pricing procedures, or other information of whatever nature which gives to EURECAT U.S. or AFFILIATED COMPANIES an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know it or use it, but it is understood that said terms do not include knowledge, skills, or information which is common to the trade or profession of EMPLOYEE.

Wene also signed a second Patent and Trade Secret Agreement in 2011.

Eurecat was a troubled company when Marklund took control in 1996. Once Wene was hired, Marklund and Wene were the top Eurecat employees in the United States, and they worked together closely.3 Eurecat and Eurecat, S.A. worked out a process for off-site catalyst activation, and Eurecat prospered under Marklund and Wene’s leadership. Eurecat did not obtain patents for its off-site catalyst activation process, opting instead to protect the process as a trade secret.4

B. Marklund and Wene plan to compete with Eurecat and later leave to form Chem32. .

In the spring of 2009, Francis Valeri, the chairman of the board for both Eurecat and Eurecat, S.A., attended a meeting at Eurecat’s main office in Clear Lake. Valeri told Marklund and the other managers that he was planning to restructure Eure-cat. In that reorganization, Marklund’s position as president would be eliminated and replaced with two vice presidents, one in charge of production and the other in charge of marketing and sales. Valeri told Marklund he would receive another, unspecified, role within the Eurecat, S.A. family of companies. Marklund was unhappy with the plan and, believing he no longer had a future at Eurecat, he told Valeri he would have to start looking out for his own interest and making his own plans.

Frederic Jardín was transferred from Eurecat, S.A. to Eurecat soon thereafter, ostensibly for a one-year period to learn sales and marketing in the United States. Jardín became Eurecat’s vice president for sales and marketing. Prior to Jardin’s 2010 arrival, Marklund had devoted about sixty percent of his time to sales and marketing activities. Feeling underutilized, Marklund testified that he began thinking about other options and thought that the time might have arrived to make a change.

According to Marklund, sometime during the summer of 2010, he encountered Wene in the Eurecat parking lot. Mark-lund told Wene, his best friend at Eurecat, that Marklund was uncertain about his future at Eurecat and he needed to start looking for something else to do. Wene asked Marklund. to consider starting a company with him to compete against Eurecat. Marklund said he was willing to investigate the possibility, as long as they did nothing that compromised their agreements with Eurecat.

[373]*373Marklund and Wene began developing a business plan for the new business. They also began searching for a plant location. Marklund and Wene believed they could use a different method to activate catalyst from the one used by Eurecat.5 They also planned to sell their service to catalyst manufacturers rather than directly to refineries. It is undisputed that Marklund and Wene never revealed their plans to open a competing business to Eurecat or Eurecat, S.A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
527 S.W.3d 367, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 4943, 2017 WL 2367545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eurecat-us-inc-v-marklund-texapp-2017.