Wolfe Elec., Inc. v. Duckworth

• Decision Date: 21 October 2011
• Docket Number: No. 99,536.,99,536.
• Citation: 266 P.3d 516,161 Lab.Cas. P 61193,293 Kan. 375,33 IER Cases 555
• Parties: WOLFE ELECTRIC, INC., Appellee, v. Terry J. DUCKWORTH and Global Cooking Systems, LLC, Appellants.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

161 Lab.Cas. P 61,193

266 P.3d 516

293 Kan. 375

33 IER Cases 555

WOLFE ELECTRIC, INC., Appellee,

v.Terry J. DUCKWORTH and Global Cooking Systems, LLC, Appellants.

No. 99,536.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Oct. 21, 2011.

Syllabus by the Court

1. It is the duty of the trial court to properly instruct the jury upon a party's theory of the case. Instructions in any particular action are to be considered together and read as a whole, and where they fairly instruct the jury on the law governing the case, error in an isolated instruction may be disregarded as harmless. If the instructions are substantially correct and the jury could not reasonably be misled by them, the instructions will be approved on appeal.

2. Interpretation of a statute is a question of law, and an appellate court's review is unlimited. Accordingly, when determining a question of law, the appellate court is not bound by the trial court's interpretation of a statute.

3. The legal effect of a written instrument is a question of law; it may be construed and its legal effect determined by the appellate court regardless of the construction made by the district court.

4. One of the elements essential to recovery for tortious interference with a contract is the wrongdoer's intentional procurement of its breach.

5. Under Supreme Court Rule 6.02 (2010 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 38), an appellant's brief must include specific citations to the record. Facts must be keyed to the record on appeal by volume and page number so as to make verification reasonably convenient. Any material statement made without such a reference may be presumed to be without support in the record.

6. An appellate court reviews the trial court's determination to give or refuse to give an instruction on a party's theory by examining the record to determine if there is evidence supporting the theory which, if accepted as true and viewed in the light most favorable to the requesting party, is sufficient for reasonable minds to reach different conclusions based on the evidence.

7. In order for evidence to be sufficient to warrant recovery of damages there must be a reasonable basis for computation which will enable the jury to arrive at an approximate estimate of the damages.

8. Generally questions of law must be determined by the court, unlimited by any agreement of the litigants. Litigants' stipulations as to what the law is are ineffective to bind the court.

9. As a general rule, issues not raised before the lower court cannot be raised for the first time on appeal.

10. When ruling on a motion for judgment as a matter of law under K.S.A. 60–250, the trial court is required to resolve all facts and inferences reasonably to be drawn from the evidence in favor of the party against whom the ruling is sought. Where reasonable minds could reach different conclusions based on the evidence, the motion must be denied. A similar analysis must be applied by an appellate court when reviewing the grant or denial of such a motion.

11. Trade-secret status is a question of fact.

12. When a verdict is challenged for insufficiency of evidence or as being contrary to the evidence, it is not the function of the appellate court to weigh the evidence or pass on the credibility of the witnesses. If the evidence, with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, when considered in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, supports the verdict, it will not be disturbed on appeal.

13. Among the factors a moving party must establish before obtaining a permanent injunction is success on the merits. Christopher M. McHugh, of Joseph & Hollander, P.A., of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the briefs for appellants.

Tim J. Moore, of Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy, Chartered, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by NUSS, J.:

This case concerns a dispute between a manufacturer of conveyor pizza ovens, Wolfe Electric, Inc. (Wolfe Electric), and its former employee, Terry Duckworth, together with the competing business Duckworth helped form, Global Cooking Systems, LLC (Global). Wolfe Electric brought suit against both for misappropriation of trade secrets under the Kansas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (KUTSA), K.S.A. 60–3320 et seq. Wolfe Electric also separately alleged Duckworth breached his fiduciary duty and his employment contract, while allegedly Global also tortiously interfered with Duckworth's employment contract.

A jury found for Wolfe Electric on all causes of action, awarding damages in a variety of categories. After trial the court awarded Wolfe Electric attorney fees and permanently enjoined defendants from involvement in commercial pizza ovens for 4 years. We transferred defendants' appeal from the Court of Appeals pursuant to K.S.A. 20–3018(c).

Between them, Duckworth and Global appeal on 11 grounds, which we consolidate for analysis. Multiple erroneous jury instructions and a verdict that fails to specify which of the innumerable acts alleged actually caused which of the particular damages awarded—which otherwise would perhaps allow us to salvage part of the verdict—require us to reverse and remand.

Facts

Wolfe Electric is a Wichita business that manufactures conveyor pizza ovens. Ron Wolfe served as the CEO of Wolfe Electric, and his brother, Gary Wolfe, was one of its engineers.

Wolfe Electric hired defendant Duckworth as a human resources consultant in 2003. In early 2004, Duckworth and Ron Wolfe discussed the possibility of Duckworth serving as president. Wolfe Electric's attorney drafted an employment contract, which Duckworth signed. Duckworth then began his work as president.

The contract included Paragraph 7 entitled “Restrictive Covenant and Nondisclosure of Information.” Subparagraph “a” contained Duckworth's acknowledgment of Wolfe Electric's trade secrets, several of which were identified:

“a. Employee agrees that as a necessary part of his employment with Employer, he has access to certain facts and information and data including, but not necessarily limited to, pricing lists; parts and equipment inventory; identity of suppliers and discount or rebate schedules; names and addresses of customers, both past and current, of Employer; projections of future needs of customers; and like and similar facts, information and data which Employee stipulates and agrees is a trade secret, the same having been gathered, interpreted and maintained by Employer at the sole cost and expense of Employer, over a period of many years.”

Subsection “b” contained Duckworth's agreement not to reveal or use Wolfe Electric's trade secrets or classified information after his employment ended:

“b. Employee further stipulates and agrees, upon the same consideration as before, that if for any reasons, whether voluntary or involuntary, and whether with or without cause, his employment with Employer should terminate, he will not reveal to any third person or party whomsoever, or use for his benefit, any of the trade secrets or classified information acquired by him during the term of his employment with Employer.”

Subsection “c” contained Duckworth's agreement not to solicit, seek, or obtain certain business from Wolfe Electric's active or inactive customers for 1 year after his employment ended:

“c. Furthermore, and upon the same consideration as before, Employee expressly stipulates and agrees that he shall not solicit, seek or obtain from any active or inactive customers of Employer, any business or trade on his own behalf or on the behalf of any future employer, which said business or trade activity would be competitive of Employer for a period of one (1) year commencing from the date of Employee's termination.”

Wolfe Electric expanded. In May 2004, it received $56,000 in revenue; in October 2004, $360,000 in revenue; in December 2004, $786,000. In 2005, Wolfe Electric's yearly revenue exceeded $10 million.

Duckworth's relationship with Wolfe Electric became strained. Between December 2004 and February 2005, Duckworth was reprimanded several times. Finally, on February 7, 2005, he was suspended for 2 days without pay. In a memo to Duckworth, Wolfe claimed that Duckworth had recently made three inappropriate comments. Duckworth denied each of these claims or, at least, disputed Wolfe's characterization of the comments.

The circumstances surrounding Duckworth's departure from Wolfe Electric are largely disputed. In any event, Duckworth's final paycheck compensated him through March 2, 2005.

The next month, April 2005, Duckworth contacted his uncle, Duane Latham, who possessed a Ph.D. in food science and had worked in research and development at Mars, Inc., for almost 30 years. Duckworth also contacted Stuart Gribble, owner of Carlson Products, a metal fabrication company. Together with Jo Latham, Latham's wife, the three men formed Global, a commercial pizza oven manufacturing company.

The four individuals met on April 8–11, 2005, in Dallas, Texas. According to Latham's notes of the meeting, Duckworth would provide knowledge of the pizza business, business knowledge, and organizational skills; Gribble would provide the manufacturing capability, office and building space, contacts, participation in NAFEM (National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers), banking and accounting, and legal; Duane Latham would provide technical support, research and development, and information about food science; and Jo Latham would provide public relations, training, and sales.

On April 18, they decided to reverse engineer a commercial pizza oven. Duckworth explained they chose to reverse engineer a Wolfe Electric oven, the XLT, because it had no patent protection.

Gribble had already made plans for a booth at the NAFEM trade show in September 2005 in Anaheim, California. According to Latham, he ordered two Wolfe Electric ovens on April 21, 2005, and had them shipped to his daughter in Ohio so competitors would not know what Global was...