Blog : Fiduciary Duty

You know that feeling when you call the customer service line and an automated voice, says “press 1 if you’re calling about a new application, press 2 if you’re calling in response to a letter you received, press 3 if . . .” “I’m not calling about any of those things,” you shout, to no one in particular. “I just want to talk to a real person!” You just want to explain your specific situation. That’s what it feels like when you’re trying to explain to a judge why the Pattern Jury Charge (PJC) question doesn’t work for your particular […]

Applying knowing participation in breach of fiduciary duty to departing employee litigation

The Orbison case ordered an employee to forfeit part of his salary for breaching his “fiduciary” duty to his employer. Does that go too far?

What if I told you that to understand an employee’s confidentiality duties, you need to understand there are three kinds of confidential information covered by at least four different areas of law? You see, employers have three kinds of confidential information: Trade secrets Confidential information that is not a trade secret “Confidential” information that is not actually confidential A trade secret is confidential information that has “independent economic value” and is “not readily ascertainable” by competitors. Secret technology, secret business plans, the literal secret sauce—these are obvious trade secrets. Less obvious things like customer lists and company prices can be […]

What did the Beaumont Court of Appeals say recently about the right measure of lost profits damages in a “Fiduciary Duty Lite” case?

Do Texas employees really owe a “fiduciary” duty to their employers? Well, sort of.