Sunpower Corp. v. Sunedison, Inc.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND

INTRODUCTION

The central issue in defendants SunEdison, Inc., Shane Messer, Kendall Fong, and Vikas Desai’s motion to dismiss is whether current employees violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1030 , if they breach their employer’s computer use policies while accessing files that they were authorized to use. Because the CFAA is an anti-hacking statute, not a misappropriation statute, I GRANT the motion to dismiss because Messer and Fong accessed the disputed information with authorization while they were SunPower’s employees. Lacking another federal claim, Sun-Power’s complaint is DISMISSED for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under 29 U.S.C. § 1331 .

BACKGROUND

I accept the allegations pleaded in the complaint as true for purposes of SunEdison’s motion to dismiss. SunPower is an energy services provider that manufactures, installs, and distributes' solar panel systems' for residential and commercial markets: Messer and Fong were' once employed by SunPower as Area Sales Manager and - Senior Director of Global Brand, respectively. SunPower asserts that Messer and Fong, prior to leaving SunPower,…