MacDermid, Inc. v. Raymond Selle and Cookson Group PLC

535 F. Supp. 2d 308, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16057, 2008 WL 576766
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedMarch 4, 2008
DocketCivil 3:07cv1566 (JBA)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 535 F. Supp. 2d 308 (MacDermid, Inc. v. Raymond Selle and Cookson Group PLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MacDermid, Inc. v. Raymond Selle and Cookson Group PLC, 535 F. Supp. 2d 308, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16057, 2008 WL 576766 (D. Conn. 2008).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND RELATED MOTIONS

JANET BOND ARTERTON, District Judge.

Plaintiff MacDermid, Incorporated (“MacDermid”) brings this action against Defendants Raymond Selle (“Selle”) and Cookson Group pic (“Cookson Group”). In its Amended Verified Complaint [Doc. # 39], MacDermid alleges that Cookson breached its contractual obligations by employing Selle (first count), that Cookson Group intentionally interfered with Mac-Dermid’s contractual relations with Selle (second count), that Selle breached his employment agreement with MacDermid (third count), and that Selle misappropriated MacDermid’s trade secrets (fourth count). MacDermid also seeks preliminary injunctive relief against Selle and permanent injunctive relief against both defendants. (Am. Compl. at 11.) The parties have also filed various other motions: Defendants have moved to dismiss the case for failure to join an indispensable party, Enthone, Inc. (“Enthone”) [Docs. # 17, 26]; Plaintiff has moved to preclude the introduction of or reliance on Brazilian law in the case [Doc. # 72], The Court held a hearing on Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction [Doc. # 4] directed only to Selle, during which MacDermid and Selle offered evidence bearing on whether he should be preliminarily enjoined from breaching the terms of his employment agreements with MacDermid. For the reasons that follow, MacDermid’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction is granted in part.

I. Factual Background

The following is a brief summary of the relevant facts. According to the Amended Verified Complaint, “MacDermid is a specialty chemical company engaged in the *310 development, manufacture^] and sale of a broad range of chemical and printing products and processes.” (Am.ComplJ 35.) Prior to his resignation in 2007, Defendant Raymond Selle had been employed by MacDermid for nearly thirty years. After initially working at MacDermid’s headquarters in Connecticut, Selle was later based in Maryland as a salesperson while selling MacDermid’s products domestically on the East and West Coasts. Selle relocated to Sao Paulo on a permanent basis in late 2002, where his last position was Mac-Dermid’s sales and marketing manager for South America. There, Selle worked at a Brazilian entity called Anion Chemical, a MacDermid licensee, during an acquisition process by MacDermid which was finalized in 2007. During this time, Selle’s work gave him access to and knowledge of considerable confidential and proprietary information about MacDermid’s advanced surface finishing business, chemical processes and products, customers’ needs, product trials and plans, business strategies, and (to a limited extent) research and development undertakings.

MacDermid’s claims against Selle are based on certain contractual commitments contained in agreements Selle signed in 1996 and 2002. On November 24, 1996, he signed an “Employee’s Agreement” with MacDermid in which he agreed (1) that he would not disclose MacDermid’s trade secrets, (2) that he would not compete with MacDermid’s business during the first twelve months after leaving his employment with MacDermid, and (3) that he would not solicit MacDermid’s customers. Specifically, the non-disclosure provision of the agreement provides in relevant part:

I recognize that it would be detrimental and damaging to [MacDermid] and its business if any of its Secrets became known to its competitors or customers ... and accordingly, I agree that I will not at any time during the term of my employment with [MacDermid] or at any time after the termination thereof, use for my personal benefit or for the benefit of my subsequent employer any of [MacDermid’s] Secrets and will keep confidential and will not divulge or disclose any of the Secrets of [MacDermid] to any other person except authorized personnel of [MacDermid] and such other persons as may be so authorized to receive the same by [MacDermid].

(Employee’s Agreement at 2, § 2.) In the next paragraph, the covenant not to compete provides in pertinent part:

I agree that during my employment with [MacDermid] and for the twelve (12) months after the termination of my employment I will not directly or indirectly, on my own account or as an employee, ... engage in any business competitive with that portion of [MacDermid’s] business with which I was involved or was exposed to during my employment with it, and it is agreed that this obligation shall not be construed to prevent me, upon termination of my employment with [MacDermid] from accepting any other type of employment and/or engaging in any other type of occupation in which the Secrets of [MacDermid] will not be directly or indirectly involved or at risk.

(Id. at 2-3, § 3.) The same paragraph also sets out Selle’s non-solicitation obligations:

I also agree that during my employment with [MacDermid] and for the twelve (12) months after the termination of my employment I will not induce or attempt to induce any individual or entity which is then or has within the preceding twelve (12) month period been a customer or supplier of [MacDermid] to reduce such customer’s or supplier’s purchases from or sales to [MacDermid], by direct advertising or solicitation, or otherwise alter such customer’s or supplier’s contractual or other relationship with [Mac- *311 Dermid], or disclose the name and/or requirements of any customer to any other person or persons, natural or corporate, or solicit any of [MacDermid’s] employees to leave the employ of [Mac-Dermid].

(Id.) Selle testified that he signed the agreement knowing that his failure to do so would result in his loss of employment at MacDermid. Subsequently, for the same reason, Selle signed an “Addendum to Employee’s Agreement” dated June 25, 2002, after he had been transferred to Sao Paulo, in which he agreed to certain additional terms, including:

1. You hereby reaffirm and confirm all of your obligations as set forth in the Employee Agreement....
2. It is agreed that the consideration supporting the Employee Agreement is your present employment and the continuation of such employment hereafter....
3. If is further agreed that as additional consideration in support of the Employee Agreement, [MacDermid] will pay you one (1) week severance pay ... if your employment is terminated by [MacDermid] through no fault of your own.
4. Other than as specifically addended herein, the Employee Agreement remains unaltered and in full force and effect.

(Addendum to Employee’s Agreement, at 1.) Although Selle testified he had intended to honor his agreements with MacDer-mid, he voluntarily resigned his employment with MacDermid on September 10, 2007, and simultaneously commenced employment in Brazil as South American New Business Development Manager with Enthone, indisputably one of MacDermid’s direct competitors.

II. Defendants’ Rule 19 Motions

As an initial matter, both Defendants have moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
535 F. Supp. 2d 308, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16057, 2008 WL 576766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/macdermid-inc-v-raymond-selle-and-cookson-group-plc-ctd-2008.