Ready Seafood and Packers Pride have issued a joint notice of settlement and a request for a stay on a lawsuit initiated by Ready over alleged theft of trade secrets.
Ready Seafood, a lobster-processing company and a subsidiary of Premium Brands Holdings Corporation, filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court alleging Packers Pride Founder Andrew Daughan and employee Robert Kragh stole trade secrets from the company. Ready alleged that the two took proprietary customer information from the company, and its lawsuit accused Daughan of breaching a noncompete agreement.
Both Ready and the defendants submitted a joint notice of settlement and a request for a stay on 8 August.
“The parties anticipate that they will be able to file a Joint Stipulation of Dismissal this month, and the parties respectfully request that the court stay the remaining deadlines in this matter pending the finalization of parties’ agreement,” the filing states.
The settlement filing follows an earlier joint filing on 27 July that requested the court continue a 28 July hearing to provide them more time to continue ongoing discussions on the resolution of the lawsuit – with a status update on or before 9 August.
The details of the settlement have not been filed, but according to the notice, Ready and Packers Pride are asking the court to stay any remaining deadlines until 29 August.
Ready first launched the lawsuit alleging Daughan purposely accumulated handwritten notes on his tasks and communications with Ready’s customers before leaving the company without any prior notice. The lawsuit also claims Daughan signed a noncompete clause in 2018.
Daughan disputed those claims in a filed response, claiming the restrictive covenants of the noncompete did not apply because he was never made aware of their existence and was never given a copy of the paperwork he signed. It also asserted that lists of high-profile customers in the lobster industry are already readily publicly available, and it cited the existence of both Seafood Expo North America and the Global Seafood Marketing Conference as evidence that “lists are available of VIP customers as well as the exhibitors and other attendees.”
“Processed lobster is sold based on universal wholesale price. Because certain customers need high volume, they purchase from many processors. Thus, identities and specific requirements of large volume customers and identities and capabilities of producers are well known to each other,” the defendants’ response states.
Neither Ready Seafood nor Packers Pride disclosed the exact terms of the settlement; however, both companies issued a joint press release acknowledging they filed a notice of settlement.
“While the terms are confidential, the parties acknowledge that the resolution is based on terms that are mutually agreeable to all of them,” the joint statement said. “The parties look forward to putting this matter behind them and continuing to serve and actively engage in the lobster industry consistent with the terms of their resolution.”
