{"id":630,"date":"2012-02-16T14:51:55","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T14:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/northern-district-of-georgia-judge-denies-twombley-motion-and-allows-trade-secrets-claims-to-proceed\/"},"modified":"2012-02-16T14:51:55","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T14:51:55","slug":"northern-district-of-georgia-judge-denies-twombley-motion-and-allows-trade-secrets-claims-to-proceed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/northern-district-of-georgia-judge-denies-twombley-motion-and-allows-trade-secrets-claims-to-proceed\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern District of Georgia Judge Denies Twombley Motion and Allows Trade Secrets Claims to Proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The claims in <em>Cartel Asset Mgmt, Inc. v. Altisource Portfolio Solutions, S.A.,<\/em> 2011 WL 6015024, *2 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 1, 2011), arose out of actions by the Defendants\u2019 predecessors.\u00a0 In 2000, Ocwen Federal Bank (\u201cOFB\u201d) was a customer of the Plaintiff, Cartel Asset Management, Inc. (\u201cCAM\u201d).\u00a0 CAM had developed a confidential list of experienced, responsive and competent realtors who produced high-quality broker price opinions at reasonable prices.\u00a0 As OFB purchased opinions from CAM, it began to copy the names and contact information of realtors identified on opinions it purchased.\u00a0 OFB then inputted this information into its own incomplete database of realtors who provided these opinions.\u00a0 OFB therefore had the names and contact information for CAM\u2019s realtors in its database.\u00a0 OFB also found the names of additional realtors through referrals from CAM\u2019s realtors.<\/p>\n<p>CAM sued OFB in Colorado for violation of the Colorado Uniform Trade Secrets Act.\u00a0 In 2004, CAM obtained a jury verdict in its favor.\u00a0 While the verdict was on appeal, OFB\u2019s parent dissolved OFB and transferred the database to a wholly-owned subsidiary.\u00a0 The parent and the subsidiary then continued to use and profit from the theft of CAM\u2019s trade secrets.<\/p>\n<p>After the Tenth Circuit remanded the case for a new trial on damages, the subsidiary was added as a defendant.\u00a0 In September 2010, a jury returned a verdict for CAM for almost thirteen million dollars in damages.\u00a0 The verdict covered damages through August 10, 2009.\u00a0 On August 10, 2009, OFB transferred the database to Altasource Portfolio Solutions, SA. (\u201cAPS\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>In August of 2011, CAM filed a Complaint in the Northern District of Georgia against APS and two of its subsidiaries, asserting that they were misappropriating CAM\u2019s trade secret.\u00a0 APS\u2019 subsidiaries moved to dismiss CAM\u2019s claims on the grounds that CAM\u2019s Complaint had failed to state a plausible claim for relief against them.\u00a0 Judge Thrash rejected their argument.\u00a0 Judge Thrash noted that CAM had alleged that OFB, its parent, and its wholly-owned subsidiary had misappropriated CAM\u2019s trade secret by using it to develop their own database and continuing to use it even after a jury found their actions to be in violation of the Colorado Uniform Trade Secrets Act.\u00a0 CAM also alleged that OFB\u2019s parent had transferred the database to APS.<\/p>\n<p>Considering CAM\u2019s allegations in light of these circumstances, Judge Thrash found that it is possible that APS and its subsidiaries were continuing to derive use from the infringing database.\u00a0 Judge Thrash therefore found that although CAM\u2019s Complaint \u201cdoes not state which subsidiaries did what and when\u201d, it states enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.\u00a0 Judge Thrash stated further that CAM\u2019s lack of knowledge regarding which subsidiary is using the database was not fatal to its case at the pleading stage.<\/p>\n<p>Accordingly, Judge Thrash denied the Defendants\u2019 Motion to Dismiss.\u00a0 This case illustrates how in trade secrets cases, a plaintiff may sometimes be hampered in its ability to make specific factual allegations, given that the evidence supporting such allegations may be in the hands of the infringing parties.\u00a0 In such circumstances, the <em>Twombley <\/em>standard should perhaps not necessarily bar claims from getting past the pleading stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The claims in Cartel Asset Mgmt, Inc. v. Altisource Portfolio Solutions, S.A., 2011 WL 6015024, *2 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 1, 2011), arose out of actions by the Defendants\u2019 predecessors.\u00a0 In 2000, Ocwen Federal Bank (\u201cOFB\u201d) was a customer of the Plaintiff, Cartel Asset Management, Inc. (\u201cCAM\u201d).\u00a0 CAM had developed a confidential list of experienced, responsive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[16,29],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Northern District of Georgia Judge Denies Twombley Motion and Allows Trade Secrets Claims to Proceed - Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/northern-district-of-georgia-judge-denies-twombley-motion-and-allows-trade-secrets-claims-to-proceed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Northern District of Georgia Judge Denies Twombley Motion and Allows Trade Secrets Claims to Proceed - Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The claims in Cartel Asset Mgmt, Inc. v. 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