Great Am. Opportunities, Inc. v. Kent

352 F. Supp. 3d 1126
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedOctober 22, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 17-cv-01662-RBJ
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 352 F. Supp. 3d 1126 (Great Am. Opportunities, Inc. v. Kent) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Am. Opportunities, Inc. v. Kent, 352 F. Supp. 3d 1126 (D. Colo. 2018).

Opinion

R. Brooke Jackson, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on plaintiff Great American Opportunities, Inc. and defendant Jacob Kent's cross-motions for partial summary judgment. ECF Nos. 37, 39. For the reasons stated herein, the plaintiff's motion is DENIED, and defendant's motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Great American Opportunities (GAO) is a Tennessee company in the business of fundraising. ECF No. 1 (Complaint) at ¶ 2. It facilitates fundraising programing for schools, councils and civic organizations. Id. at ¶ 4. It does this by acting as a wholesaler of products - GAO's customers sell GAO products to fundraise for their organization. Id. at ¶ 4. GAO uses sales representatives who collaborate with fundraising program sponsors in each account. Id. at ¶ 4. Fundraising program sponsors are people like the school principal, administrators, secretaries, teachers and coaches that lead a fundraiser for their organization. Id. at ¶ 17. GAO runs as many as 25,000 fundraising programs each year for about 16,000 different accounts. Id. at ¶ 12.

In running these programs, GAO develops customer account information such as a customer's fundraising history, what product lines the customer has used, the method of marketing and prize giving, the number of program participants, total sales, net profits, and the future goals of the participating schools and groups. Id. at *1130¶ 18. Sales representatives develop and document this information. Id. at ¶ 21. The information is stored on a computer server in Tennessee, and GAO maintains several layers of security to protect its data in compliance with the "Payment Card Industry" data security standards. Id. at ¶ 22. GAO states that it also develops strategic business plans, marketing plans, future product roll-outs, and information about the acquisitions of other sales forces and accounts of competitors in fundraising. Id. at ¶ 19. It considers all this information to be trade secrets and valuable confidential information. Id. at ¶ 27.

Jacob Kent is a Colorado citizen and was a sales representative for GAO between October 1999 and December 31, 2015 or January 1, 2016, when he voluntarily resigned. Id. at ¶ 31; ECF No. 8 at ¶ 46. In 2002 Mr. Kent had entered into an employment agreement in which he acknowledged GAO's requirements that he not disclose trade secrets and other confidential information as a condition of employment. Id. at ¶ 28, 35; Employment Agreement § 5(a). Mr. Kent further agreed that for a period of two years following the date of his resignation, he would not solicit any account, customer, or sponsor of GAO within his assigned territory. Id. at ¶ 38; Employment Agreement § 5(b).

However, GAO learned from other sales representatives that Mr. Kent, at least as of February 24, 2017, was soliciting business from Colorado accounts he formerly serviced as a GAO employee. Id. at ¶ 49-50. GAO sent two letters to Mr. Kent in March 2017 reminding him of his obligations under the Employment Agreement. However, he continued to solicit GAO customers for his new fundraising business. Id. at ¶ 53- 56.

For his part Mr. Kent maintains that he was never provided any confidential or trade secret information after his first year with GAO. ECF No. 44 at 4. He further states that most of the information GAO argues is confidential is publicly accessible in the Colorado High School Activities Association directory, or by calling or visiting the school, or on GAO's website. Id. Mr. Kent describes the fundraising service provided by his new business as a platform for online donations that does not require student groups to sell products. Id. at 7. He argues that this is a service not offered by GAO, and that the customers he has contacted had already ceased doing business with GAO because they were looking to move from product sales to an online donation-only platform. Id.

GAO filed its Complaint against Mr. Kent on July 17, 2017. ECF No. 1. It brought claims for misappropriation of trade secrets under federal and state law (Counts One and Two), breach of contract (Count Three), tortious interference with contracts (Count Four) and breach of the non-solicitation and non-interference clauses of the contract (Count Five).1 On July 12, 2018, Mr. Kent moved for partial summary judgment asking for dismissal of all claims except claims contained in Count Three for breach of the confidentiality provisions of the Employment Agreement. ECF No. 37. Mr. Kent contends that the information identified by GAO does not constitute trade secrets or confidential business information, and that even if it did, Mr. Kent never misappropriated such information. He further claims that the provisions of the Employment Agreement relied upon by Plaintiff are unenforceable under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-2-113, and that counts one, two, and four are all barred by the economic loss rule. Id. GAO filed an *1131opposition to this motion, ECF No. 42, and Mr. Kent filed a reply, ECF No. 45.

On July 18, 2018, GAO moved for partial summary judgment asking for a determination of liability with the amount of damages to be determined separately. ECF No. 39. Mr. Kent filed an opposition to that motion, ECF No. 44, and GAO filed a reply, ECF No. 46. Mr. Kent then filed, with the Court's permission, a sur-reply. ECF No. 49. Both motions for summary judgment have been fully briefed and are ripe for review.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Court may grant summary judgment if "there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The moving party has the burden to show that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The nonmoving party must "designate specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. A dispute about a fact is material "if under the substantive law it is essential to the proper disposition of the claim." Adler v.

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Bluebook (online)
352 F. Supp. 3d 1126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-am-opportunities-inc-v-kent-cod-2018.