Expro Americas, LLC v. Walters

179 So. 3d 1010, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 574, 2015 WL 7770778
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 3, 2015
DocketNo. 2014-CA-00414-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 179 So. 3d 1010 (Expro Americas, LLC v. Walters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Expro Americas, LLC v. Walters, 179 So. 3d 1010, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 574, 2015 WL 7770778 (Mich. 2015).

Opinions

KITCHENS, Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Expro Americas, LLC (“Expro”) filed a complaint in the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of-Jones County, seeking, inter alia, a temporary restrain[1012]*1012ing order and applying for a preliminary injunction against Eddie, Walters, a former Expro employee, and H & H Welding, LLC (“H .& H”). After conducting an evidentiary bearing, the chancellor dissolved the temporary restraining order and , found no facts to justify the issuance of a, preliminary injunction. The chancellor awarded the defendants attorneys’ fees and expenses in excess of the $5,000 injunction bond that Expro had posted. After determining''that Expro’s suit against H & H was meritless, the chancellor mm sponte dismissed H & H. from the suit with prejudice under Rule 41(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. We find that the chancellor did not err. by awarding the defendants attorneys’ fees and expenses, because Expro’s application for a preliminary injunction was frivolous and was made in bad faith. However, we And the chancellor misapplied Rule 41 ■ and therefore erred by dismissing H & H from the suit with prejudice.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Expro Americas, LLG (“Expro”) is a company based in Houston, Texas, which does business in Laurel, Mississippi. It is a “company that offers oil and gas well and pipeline services.” A major portion of Ex-pro’s pipeline services business involves “helping customers with the safe handling of high pressure hydrocarbons by separating, filtering, and flaring of the gasés that result from, among other things, the cleaning, testing, flushing and' commissioning and decommissioning of pipelines. Expro specializes in state-of-the-art, portable frailer mounted flare systems....” Flare stacks are equipment used in oil fields and pipelines which burn and dispose of excess, unusable waste gas. Expro “provides the specially designed flaring products and services to pipeline transmission companies and refineries along the Gulf Coast.” Flare stacks, in particular Expro’s six-inch, trailer-mounted flare stacks, were at issue in the underlying litigation.

¶ 3. H & H Welding, LLC, (“H & H”) is a welding company located in Ellisville, Mississippi, which was hired by Expro for various flare-stack-related work. Eddie Walters was an Expro employee until August 5,2013. Thereafter, Walters was employed by Clean Combustion, a competitor of Expro’s that was created in 2018 by former Expro employees.

¶ 4. On August 20, 2018; Expro filed a “Verified Complaint for Emergency Temporary Restraining Order And/Or Application for Preliminary Injunction and Permanent Injunction and Other Relief” in the Chancery Court of the. First Judicial District of Jones County against H & H and Walters, alleging that both defendants stole the design for its six-inch, trailer-mounted flare stack. Expro specifically alleged that “[t]he information used to design and create the frailer-mounted flaring system is a ‘trade secret’ of Expro’s within the meaning of Miss.Code Ann. § 75-26-1, at seq,” Furthermore, it alleged breach of contract against H <& H, claiming that the terms of Expro’s purchase orders with H & H contained a “Proprietary Rights” section “in which H & H ‘warrants to keep all design, information, blueprints and engineering data with respect to the Goods confidential and to not make use of but to assign to Expro each invention, improvement and discovery relating thereto (whether or not patentable) conceived or reduced to practice in the performance of the Purchase Order by any person employed by or working under the directions of the Supplier Group.’ ” Expro attached a purchase order to' its Verified Complaint as “Exhibit A.” The purchase order attached to the complaint was not signed by H & H. It also alleged that Walters had signed an “Employee Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Acknowledgement [1013]*1013[sic],” which it attached to its Verified Complaint.1 Expro’s specific claims and “Relief Requested” were as follows:

1. Count 1 for Injunctive Relief

¶ 5. .Expro argued that it was entitle?! to injunctive relief because Walters and H & H were copying Expro’s proprietary designs. It argued that “Walters has signed a confidentiality and non-compete agreement to not take Expro’s proprietary information and use it to compete with Expro. H & H similarly has signed a proprietary agreement with Expro not to use Expro’s designs to manufacture components that are not. for Expro’s use.”

%, Comity for. Breach of Contract

¶ 6. Expro argued that both H & E and Walters had breached their respective agreements, alleging that Walters had breached his agreement not to use Expro’s confidential and proprietary information and that H & H had breached its agreement not to manufacture or use Expro’s designs except for Expro’s orders. Specifically to H & H, Expro claimed that H & H “signed an agreement with Expro not to manufacture or use Expro’s designs except for Expro’s orders. See Exhibit ‘A.’ ”

3. Count ¡1 for Misappropriation of Trade Secrets

¶ 7. Expro alleged that Walters and H <⅞ H had misappropriated “the confidential and proprietary information of Expro.”

4. Count b for Violation of the Mississippi Trade Secrets Act

¶ 8. Expro claimed that Walters and Ex-pro had violated the Mississippi Uniform Trade Secrets- Act, Mississippi Code Section 75-26-1.

¶ 9. That same day, Expro filed a motion requesting an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) and an application for a preliminary injunction. Expro requested that the court enjoin H & H and Walters '“from taking, using, manufacturing, selling or otherwise distributing the confidential and proprietary information of Expro as set forth and described in Ex-pro’s Verified Complaint.” 'The chancellor granted Expro a .TRO. In the order, the chancellor set a security bond of $5,000 pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 65(e).

¶ 10. The chancellor scheduled .a hearing to address the merits of Expro’s application for a preliminary injunction for August 27, 2018; On August 21, 2013, Expro served a documents subpoena on H & H pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 45,2 requesting that H & H produce a large volume of documents prior to the sehéduled hearing. On August 23, 2013, the parties entered into an agreed order continuing the hearing until September 3, 2013. The parties agreed that the TRO should remain in effect until the September 3,2013, hearing.

¶ 11. The preliminary injunction hearing commenced' on September 3, 2013. First, Expro’s employee,. Chris L. Holi-[1014]*1014field, testified.3 Holifield could not articulate which trade secret was involved in Expro’s production of the six-inch, trailer-mounted flare stack.

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179 So. 3d 1010, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 574, 2015 WL 7770778, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/expro-americas-llc-v-walters-miss-2015.