DOWNTOWN WOMEN CENTER INC v. [And A Third-Party Action]. (1997)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Beatrice Shainswit, J.), entered January 29, 1996, which, inter alia, granted defendants' and third-party defendants' motions for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and the third-party complaint, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

 The IAS court correctly found that plaintiffs' patient list, left unprotected on a centralized computer accessible to all persons in the medical suite sharing or using the computer, did not qualify as a trade secret (see, Ashland Mgt. v. Janien, 82 N.Y.2d 395, 407, 604 N.Y.S.2d 912, 624 N.E.2d 1007;  Defiance Button Mach. Co. v. C & C Metal Prods. Corp., 759 F.2d 1053, 1063, cert denied 474 U.S. 844, 106 S.Ct. 131, 88 L.Ed.2d 108).   Nor does the complaint contain an allegation that third-party defendants actually breached their contract with plaintiffs, necessary to any cause of action for tortious interference with contract (see, Inselman & Co. v. FNB Fin. Co., 41 N.Y.2d 1078, 1080, 396 N.Y.S.2d 347, 364 N.E.2d 1119).   As the IAS court noted, the complaint alleges only that the subject contract had to be “renegotiated” because of defendants' alleged interference.   We have considered plaintiffs' remaining arguments and find them to be without merit.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.