Read Meaux Surface Protection, Inc. v. Fogleman, 09-20234

In an action for breach of fiduciary duty claiming that defendant surreptitiously and unlawfully poached employees and clients while working for plaintiff, judgment for plaintiff is affirmed in part where: 1) it was perfectly apparent throughout discovery and pretrial litigation that plaintiff would seek lost profits, and thus the district court's amendment of its pretrial order to permit plaintiff to do so was not erroneous; 2) defense counsel had the relevant documents prior to plaintiff's lost profits witness's deposition and could have questioned him about his familiarity, or lack thereof, with plaintiff's operations and profitability; 3) the jury was well within its province to find that defendants' recruitment of plaintiff's employees directly caused plaintiff to suffer a loss in business; and 4) because the company and industry were not nascent and untested, copious evidence of lost profits was unnecessary.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/17/2010
• Published 05/17/2010

Judges

• DeMOSS, Circuit Judge:, Before DeMOSS, ELROD and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Conrad Henry Kollenberg (argued), Kimberly Stuart, crain, Caton & James, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee Cross-Appellant., Robert M. Roach, Jr. (argued), Roach & Newton, L.L.P., Houston, TX, for Defendants-Appellants Cross-Appellees.