Zhao v. XO Energy LLC

493 S.W.3d 725, 2016 WL 2587039
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 5, 2016
DocketNO. 01-15-00937-CV, NO. 01-16-00053-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 493 S.W.3d 725 (Zhao v. XO Energy LLC) 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
Zhao v. XO Energy LLC, 493 S.W.3d 725, 2016 WL 2587039 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Sherry Radack, Chief Justice

Defendant/appellant/relator Liang “Benny” Zhao filed an accelerated interlocutory appeal and, later,. a petition for writ of mandamus, both complaining of a temporary injunction requiring him to deposit money into the registry of the trial court during the pendency of the underlying lawsuit. We dismiss the interlocutory appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We deny the petition for writ of mandamus.

BACKGROUND

A. XO Energy’s Allegations1

Plaintiffs/appellees/real-parties-in-inter-est XO Energy, LLC, and XO Energy Worldwide, LLLP (collectively,. “XO Energy”) are related, wholesale electric utilities that trade financial and physical products in various competitive wholesale electricity markets, including (relevant to this case) the California Independent System Operator. (CISO). XO Energy employs analysts who, among other things, are, responsible for:

(i) creating production cost models to forecast nodal electricity price components; (ii) performing load flow analysis using industry tools; (iii) analyzing weather patterns and fuel prices to predict the base electricity prices; (iv) utilizing XO Energy’s optimization models to forecast congestion and determine congestion drivers; (v) reviewing data using relevant databases and statistical tools; (vi) selecting .nodes to trade based on forecasted congestion patterns; and (vii) entering bid curves.

1. Zhao’s Employment

XO Energy hired Zhao as a Transmission/Congestion Analyst' in December 2012. His employment contract required him to split his time 50/50 between Houston, Texas and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The contract provided for an annual salary of $125,000 and additional, deferred compensation as part of XO Energy’s discretionary incentive compensation and profit-sharing program. The contract also contained an anti-competition clause, prohibiting Zhao from engaging in any business competing with XO Energy for two years following termination of his employment. Finally, the contract obligated Zhao to maintain the confidentiality of XO Energy’s trade secrets and confidential and proprietary information.

According to XO Energy, its protected Confidential Information includes the following types of information and documents:

a. Electronic data and information contained in Constraint Effects, the proprietary software developed and maintained by XOE that collects and reports congestion-related information and is critical to XOE’s business decisions and product trades. ■ Constraint Effects takes every Constraint/Contingency in an ISO and ' displays the Distribution Factor of each pricing node in the market relative to that Constraint/Contingency. Additionally, it measures the overall total pricing effect on each node from one or multiple' constraints, based on historical or ad hoc Shadow Prices;
b. Secured maps' and other similar Critical Energy Infrastructure Informa[728]*728tion (“CEII”), which are the nuts and bolts of the transmission grids;
c. Electronic data and information contained in PowerWorld Simulator and other third-party software.licensed and used by XOE, which include an interactive power system simulation package designed to simulate high voltage power system operation on a time frame ranging from several minutes to several days; and
d. Certain electronic data and information contained on XOE’s email systems or exchanged and/or received by its employees through then XOE email accounts., .

XO Energy alleges that its Confidential Information has been assembled over the course of many years at a substantial expense, and that it safeguards the information in- a number of ways, including password protecting all of its. databases containing this information, and limiting the distribution of .certain portions of this information to upper level management or other employees who have a specific need for the information.

XO Energy maintains CEII clearance that it is. required to apply for on an annual basis , with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). CEII clearance allows it to access engineering and design information regarding existing and proposed critical infrastructure, including details about the production, generation, transmission, and distribution of energy, as well as strategic information beyond the location of such critical infrastructure. XO Energy does not distribute or allow access to its sensitive, Confidential Information containing the detailed information about its providers or its pricing information and matrixes to all employees. This information is shared only with those directly involved in relevant activities or operations. As a result of his employment, Zhao had access to and been provided electronic or other copies of documents containing Confidential Information.

In his employment contract, Zhao agreed that if he breached the non-compete provisions of the Agreement or if his employment was (i) “terminated for Cause” by XO Energy or (ii) terminated “without Good Reason” by Zhao, Zhao “automatically forfeited] any and all rights to any deferred Bonus or other deferred incentive compensation.” Further,' Zhao agreed that “any grant by [XO Energy] of such remuneration shall be automatically void.”

The contract described good cause for termination as:

(i) [Zhao’s] willful and continued fail- . ure to perform or to discharge his ... duties and responsibilities under this Agreement for any reason after XO Energy] has provided [Zhao] written notice of its intent to terminate his employment ...; (ii) any other willful misconduct by [Zhao] that is materially and demonstrably injurious economically to [XO Energy]; ... or (iv) ' Zhao’s violation of any of the provisions of Section 5 [the noncompete provisions] of this Agreement.

2. Zhao’s breach of his Contract Obligations, Theft of Confidential Data, and Secret Preparations to Create a Company to Compete with XO Energy

XO Energy alleges that, despite his obligation to work half the time in St. Thomas, Zhao worked remotely from Houston. After XO Energy confronted Zhao about this in mid-February 2015, even presenting the option to relocate to a different office, Zhao did not respond to the options offered by XO Energy and “began to noticeably distance himself from his co-workers.”

XO Energy discovered later that during the period of February 18-26, 2015, Zhao [729]*729had remotely accessed its systems and engaged in the wholesale copying of its Confidential Information onto two external hard drives. He also copied data from XO Energy’s proprietary Constraint Effect’s database. In addition, he copied data and information contained in XO Energy’s PowerWorld software (a tool used by power marketers), exported a copy of thousands of emails from his company account, and copied XO Energy’s secured maps.

These activities were captured by XO Energy’s Work Examiner data security software.2 On February .27, 2015, Work Examiner also captured screenshots of a ‘to-do’ list Zhao prepared on his computer.

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Bluebook (online)
493 S.W.3d 725, 2016 WL 2587039, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zhao-v-xo-energy-llc-texapp-2016.