29 August - Cargill has failed in its bid to claim US$10.2 million damages from former employees it accused of stealing trade secrets when they left to form their own company.
Cargill brought the case against the trio, Matt Budine, Brian Sundberg, and Luciana Jonkman, after they formed dairy nutrition and management consultancy firm Progressive Dairy Solutions, accusing them of misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and fraud.
Following a three-week trial in Fresno, California, a federal court jury dismissed Cargill’s claims, declaring them to be “objectively specious”. Lawyers for the three former Cargill workers said this could be defined as the court deciding Cargill’s case had lacked any basis in evidence.
While the defence team labelled it as a “clear victory”, Cargill spokesman David Feider said “the result of the litigation to date is that neither side has prevailed on any claim against the other side”. He said that various charges filed by the trio against Cargill “seeking in excess of US$30 million that included wage, defamation, antitrust, and misappropriation” claims had also been dismissed.
Mr Feider added: “The litigation with Cargill's former employees was about whether they could use - acting as competitors - the fruits of Cargill's research and development efforts for their own purposes after they left Cargill. This trial was not about Cargill's sharing of information with its dairy customers. Cargill continues to comply with state laws requiring the disclosure of ingredient and nutritional information for each shipment of dairy feed.
“Cargill disagrees with the jury's verdict, and is exploring its options with respect to this lawsuit, including appeal. Once the district court proceedings have been concluded, Cargill will make a final decision as to whether to appeal.
“Cargill will continue to take the necessary and appropriate steps to protect its intellectual property. Cargill remains committed to continuing its effort to invest in the development of new animal nutrition technologies and applications for the benefit of the dairy industry."