PENSACOLA – A Destin company alleges a former independent contractor residing in Maryland threatened to disclose trade secrets.
TruePenny People LLC filed a complaint on Aug. 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division against Jason Cota alleging trade secret misappropriation.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Aug. 4, it notified the defendant that it was severing business ties with him and demanded that all intellectual and physical properties, documents and stored information in his possession should be returned to plaintiff. The suit also states that the defendant was reminded not to disclose confidential and proprietary information, but defendant allegedly has yet to return properties and plaintiff believes that it will be used for the benefit of its competitors.
The plaintiff holds Cota responsible because the defendant allegedly refused to return confidential and proprietary information that is rightfully owned by plaintiff and threatened to disclose trade secrets to a third-party without consent from plaintiff.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment in its favor, permanent injunction restricting the defendant from using or disseminating its trade secrets, for the defendant to destroy proprietary information in defendant's possession, award damages, attorneys' fees, costs of action and further relief at law. It is represented by Jeremy C. Branning and Andrew M. Spencer of Clark Partington in Pensacola.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division Case number 16-cv-00424