Perry

Respondent Morlife, Inc. (Morlife) brought this suit for damages and injunctive relief against its former employees, appellants Lloyd Perry and Carl Bowersmith, who had resigned and joined with appellant Donald R. Meyers to form Burlingame Builders, Inc. (Burlingame), a direct competitor of Morlife in the commercial roof repair market. Morlife claimed appellants unfairly competed with it by misappropriating confidential customer information in violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) (Civ. Code, § 3426 et seq.). [1] After a nonjury trial, the court found for Morlife, awarded it $39,293.47 in monetary damages, and granted injunctive relief. Applying the appropriate standard of review to the evidence before the court, we uphold the trial court's finding that Burlingame used trade secrets to compete unfairly with Morlife. We further find the monetary and injunctive relief granted against Burlingame was warranted by the evidence. Therefore, we affirm.

Morlife is in the business of inspecting, maintaining, and repairing roofs primarily for commercial properties. Before he terminated his employment with Morlife, Perry was its sales representative and had…

Respondent Morlife, Inc. (Morlife) brought this suit for damages and injunctive relief against its former employees, appellants Lloyd Perry and Carl Bowersmith, who had resigned and joined with appellant Donald R. Meyers to form Burlingame Builders, Inc. (Burlingame), a direct competitor of Morlife in the commercial roof repair market. Morlife claimed appellants unfairly competed with it by misappropriating confidential customer information in violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) *1518 (Civ. Code, § 3426 et seq.). 1 After a nonjury trial, the court found for Morlife, awarded it $39,293.47 in monetary damages, and granted injunctive relief. Applying the appropriate standard of review to the evidence before the court, we uphold the trial court’s finding that Burlingame used trade secrets to compete unfairly with Morlife. We further find the monetary and injunctive relief granted against Burlingame was warranted by the evidence. Therefore, we affirm.

Facts

Morlife is in the business of inspecting, maintaining, and repairing roofs primarily for commercial properties. Before he terminated his employment with Morlife, Perry was its sales representative and had…

I find this an extremely troubling case. With great reluctance, I concur in the majority’s opinion, but on the ground—and only on the ground—that the trial court’s key finding of fact that respondent’s “customer list” was a trade secret is supported by substantial evidence. But I think the margin by which it is so supported is about an inch and a half. Put another way, were I the trial judge looking at this record, I would almost certainly have come out differently than the trial judge here did. But our role is to defer to the trier of fact where there is substantial evidence, so defer I do—albeit with great trepidation.

The genesis for about 50 percent of that trepidation is because I take very seriously that part of the holding of our Supreme Court in Continental Car-Na-Var Corp. v. Moseley (1944) 24 Cal.2d 104, 110 [ 148 P.2d 9 ] (Moseley), which stresses that a “former employee has the right to engage in a competitive business for himself and to enter into competition with his former employer, even for the business of those who had formerly been the customers of his former employer” provided, of course, that such is done *1530 fairly and legally. I am concerned that perhaps…