Seyfarth Shaw Secures Win for World Financial Group Inc., Highlighted in IP Law360
"Trade Secrets Theft Not 'Protected Activity:' Court"

Seyfarth Shaw's victory on behalf of client World Financial Group Inc. (WFG), was featured in the IP Law360 article, "Trade Secrets Theft Not 'Protected Activity:' Court," published April 20, 2009. According to the article, a California appellate court ruled that HBW Insurance & Financial Services Inc. must face claims that its employees stole trade secrets and used confidential information in a bid to swipe associates and clients from World Financial Group Inc. because their actions don't qualify as "protected activity." The article noted that in their ruling, a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District "affirmed a trial court's denial of motion by HBW and six of its employees to strike the complaint after finding they had failed to make a prima-facie case showing their actions were protected by anti-Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) statutes, which protect public statements from unfair litigation."

The article further explained that according to the court, "the allegedly wrongful conduct and speech that WFG had attributed to the defendants was committed in a business capacity, and was directed at a competitor's associates and customers for the sole purpose of promoting the competing business as a superior employer and provider of products and services." The court also noted that "While employee mobility and competition are issues of public interest and importance, the focus of the anti-SLAPP statute must be on the specific nature of the speech rather than on generalities that might be abstracted from it.” The appeals court found that “Otherwise, every case alleging the breach of a noncompetition agreement or the related misappropriation of trade secrets would be categorically subject to the anti-SLAPP statute. Applying the statute in this manner would effectively 'eviscerate the unfair business practices laws,' a result the legislature plainly did not intend.”

The victory was a multi-office effort. Erik von Zeipel and Daniel Sable in the Los Angeles office worked on the case, along with Tim Nelson in Sacramento and Brian Ashe in San Francisco.