Commercial Litigation; Punitive Damages

David A. Axelrod & Associates successfully represented clients whose trade secret customer information had been stolen, initially obtaining an injunction preventing use of that information and, ultimately, winning at trial an award of compensatory damages for business loss as well as punitive damages.  After trial, while the court was to decide the amount of attorneys fees to be awarded, the case was settled in favor of the firm’s clients.

In March of 2002, the Defendants advertized the sale of their hair salon in the newspaper.  After some negotiation, our clients’, a businessman and a seasoned beautician, entered into a sales agreement to purchase the salon from the Defendants.  The sales agreement transferred all interests in the salon to our clients.  One of the assets transferred in the sale was the salon’s client list.  The client list consisted not only of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the salon’s existing clients, but also included a history of those clients’ services and treatments at the salon.

Pursuant to the sales agreement, two of the former owners of the salon, both beauticians,  remained affiliated with the salon as hair stylists for a year after the sale to assist in transferring the business to our clients.  The very day that followed that one year affiliation, our clients were notified by certain salon customers that they had received solicitations from the Defendants inviting them to transfer their business to a new salon where the Defendants would be working.

David A. Axelrod & Associates immediately proceeded into court to obtain a preliminary injunction, relief which prevented the Defendants from being able to do business with the salon’s customers.  The firm then used discovery to further establish not only that the Defendants had interfered with the business of our clients, but to determine the amount of business lost as a result.  Once discovery was completed, the case went to trial.  David A. Axelrod & Associates obtained a ruling that the Defendants’ duplication and use of the salon’s client list was a breach of contract and constituted trade secret misappropriation.  The Court awarded the clients both compensatory and punitive damages and also ruled that our clients were entitled to recoup their attorneys’ fees incurred in prosecuting the lawsuit.   Before a final award of fees was entered, David A. Axelrod & Associates negotiated a global resolution of the entire matter.

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If you are in need of experienced, dedicated, and tenacious trial representation, call David A. Axelrod & Associates today at 312-782-4600 for your free consultation.