On November 8, 2010, Chief Judge Fitzwater denied Rolls-Royce’s request that the Court alter its prior Order (pdf copy of ruling available here). Rolls-Royce sued H.E.R.O.S., Inc. and Hye-Tech Manufacturing, LLC (“Defendants”), alleging that they misappropriated Rolls-Royce’s trade secrets. The Court had previously granted Defendants’ summary judgment motion as to Rolls-Royce’s misappropriation claim, “holding that a reasonable jury could only find that the documents at issue are not trade secrets.” Rolls-Royce sought reconsideration of the Court’s Order, arguing that the Court had made a manifest error of law or fact.
Specifically, Rolls-Royce claimed that the Court erred when it concluded that Rolls-Royce’s Approved Maintenance Center Overhaul Information Letters (“AMC-OILS”) were not trade secrets. Chief Judge Fitzwater noted that Rolls-Royce had previously asserted that the AMC-OILS as “entire documents” were trade secrets, but that Rolls-Royce now asserted trade secret protection as to the new information contained in the AMC-OILS (as opposed to both the old and new information). The Court declined to consider this claim for the first time in a motion to alter or amend, finding that it was “Rolls-Royce’s burden to point out specifically what it alleged to be a protected trade secret.”
Rolls-Royce is represented by Robert Ruckman and S. Brad Brown, Jr., both of Jackson Walker; and Alastair Warr, Jason Houdek, Libby Goodnight, and Max Hittle, Jr., all of Krieg Devault LLP.
H.E.R.O.S. and Hye-Tech Manufacturing are represented by Christopher Robison and Jerry Alexander, both of Passman & Jones; and Edward McConwell, of the McConwell Law Offices.