Interrelatedness of Contract/Wage Nonpayment Administrative Proceedings and Trade Secret Bad Faith Justified Sustaining of Lower Court Awards.
Plaintiff lost both DLSE administrative proceedings and a breach of contract/trade secret case against various defendants, with the lower court then awarding one defendant Labor Code section 98.2 fees of $43,881.25 for winning the DLSE appeal/beating plaintiff’s contractual breach action and awarding the other defendants $29,737 in fees under Civil Code section 3426.4 for the bringing of a “bad faith” trade secrets misappropriation case.
The appellate court affirmed all fee awards in Spot Water Management, Inc. v. Plageman, Case No. D059270 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Nov. 13, 2013) (unpublished).
The $43,881.25 wage nonpayment fee award was sustained because the fees spent on defeating plaintiff’s breach of contract claims overlapped with work at the DLSE level.
The $29,737 trade secrets fee award was upheld because bad faith was shown by plaintiff’s voluntary dismissal of one defendant and by the summary judgment grant as to the trade secrets claim as to the other.