In re Frost, 10-99-200-CV

Decision Date17 September 1999
Docket NumberNo. 10-99-200-CV,10-99-200-CV
Citation998 S.W.2d 938
Parties(Tex.App.-Waco 1999) IN RE MARCUS FROST AND FROST CRUSHED STONE COMPANY, INC
CourtTexas Court of Appeals

Before Chief Justice Davis,Justice Vance, and Justice Gray

O P I N I O N

BILL VANCE, Justice

This mandamus action arises from a discovery order directing Relators, Marcus Frost and Frost Crushed Stone Company, Inc. ("Frost"), to produce a customer list to Odell Geer Construction Company, Inc. ("Geer"), the real party in interest. Geer sued Frost for breach of an oral contract, promissory estoppel and fraud, alleging that Frost failed to provide crushed stone for a construction project. Frost and Geer are occasional competitors in the crushed-stone business.

Geer sought discovery of Frost's customer list. At the hearing, Marcus Frost testified that the list is a trade secret, is kept confidential, and is essential to his business. Respondent, the Honorable Robert Stem, determined that the customer list was a trade secret and ordered it disclosed with a protective order prohibiting anyone but the parties, their attorneys and their experts from viewing the list.

Frost filed this mandamus proceeding and sought emergency relief, which we granted by staying Respondent's order to produce the list. Although a response was requested from Geer, none has been filed.

Rule of Evidence 507 provides a privilege for a party to refuse to disclose its trade secrets "if the allowance of the privilege will not tend to conceal fraud or otherwise work injustice." TEX. R. EVID. 507; In re Continental Gen. Tire, Inc., 979 S.W.2d 609, 610 (Tex. 1998). Once a party resisting discovery establishes that information is a trade secret, the burden shifts to the requesting party to establish that the information is "necessary for a fair adjudication of its claims." In re Continental, 979 S.W.2d at 613. Because of the nature of trade secrets, Rule 507 contemplates a higher burden than mere relevancy of the information. Id. at 613-14. If the requesting party meets that burden, the court should compel disclosure of the information subject to an appropriate protective order. Id. at 613. The court must weigh the degree of the requesting party's need for the information against the potential harm of disclosure to the resisting party. Id.

Because Respondent found the customer list is a trade secret, Geer had the heightened burden of establishing that the list was necessary for a fair adjudication of its claims. Id....

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3 cases
  • Llc v. Stelly
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas
    • 17 Agosto 2010
    ...902-03 (Tex.App.-Waco 1999, no pet.);In re Continental Tire N. Am., Inc., 74 S.W.3d 884, 886 (Tex.App.-Eastland 2002, no pet.); In re Frost, 998 S.W.2d 938, 939 (Tex.App.-Waco 1999, no pet.) M-I does not stand in the same position as the plaintiffs in the cited cases. First, the manufacturi......
  • In re 4X Indus., LLC
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • 23 Diciembre 2021
    ...burden to establish the necessity for the discovery of the trade secret information to fairly adjudicate a claim or defense."); In re Frost , 998 S.W.2d 938, 939 (Tex. App.—Waco 1999, orig. proceeding) (holding trial court abused its discretion by ordering trade secrets disclosed even thoug......
  • In re Waste Management of Texas, Inc.
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • 28 Mayo 2009
    ...in two cases about ten years ago. In both In re Leviton Mfg. Co., 1 S.W.3d 898, 903 (Tex.App.-Waco 1999, orig. proceeding), and In re Frost, 998 S.W.2d 938, 939 (Tex.App.-Waco 1999, orig. proceeding), the appellate court found the trial court erred in ordering discovery where the seeking pa......

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