Opinion ID: 2266073
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Long's postdeparture involvement in R.J.'s contracts

Text: Regarding Atlantic's attempt to recover lost profits on the postdeparture contracts that Long obtained for R.J. through his contacts at Morton, Sobolewski's position hinges on the premise that while he was still employed by Atlantic, Long steered Morton to R.J., causing Atlantic to lose not only predeparture contracts but also substantial future opportunities of doing business with or through Morton even after Long had departed. But Brunson, Morton's office manager, poured cold water on this theory at trial. Other than Long's predeparture activity, there was no other evidence to support such a claim for lost future business. Morton, it seems, had previously worked on two or three projects wherein Atlantic had been hired to insulate some buildings. Brunson, however, quickly came to dislike both Sobolewski and the product he sold and decided to look elsewhere. He heard through the grapevine at Morton that Long had left Atlantic to form R.J. [6] Morton eventually contracted with R.J. in December 1987, but Brunson flatly rejected the notion that Long had anything to do with his decision not to use Atlantic at that time. Other than Long's predeparture misconduct in obtaining contracts for R.J., there was no other evidence to support any claims for lost profits arising out of R.J.'s postdeparture contracts with third parties. On these facts no reasonable factfinder could conclude that Long breached any duty to Atlantic concerning the postdeparture contracts he had obtained for R.J. Atlantic had no legal right to keep Morton from doing business with or directing business to R.J. after Long's departure. Moreover, absent any enforceable noncompetition agreement, former employees like Long can solicit their previous employer's customers for business, as long as, in doing so, they are not acting tortiously, for example, by interfering unjustifiably with their former employer's contracts, by misappropriating the employer's trade secrets, or by converting other confidential business information belonging to their former employer. See, e.g., Callahan v. Rhode Island Oil Co., 103 R.I. 656, 660-61, 240 A.2d 411, 413-14 (1968); 3 Beth A. Buday and Gail A. O'Gradney, Fletcher Cyclopedia of the Law of Private Corporations, § 860 at 275-76 (1994). Here, Morton's identity as a prospective customer for R.J. was not a trade secret, as it was readily ascertainable from nonconfidential sources. Cf. Durapin, Inc. v. American Products, Inc., 559 A.2d 1051, 1057 (R.I. 1989) (no protectable interest where customer's identity was common knowledge and there was no evidence that plaintiff-corporation had developed a special relationship through its appreciation of the customer's special needs). Moreover, Morton and Atlantic did not have any sort of business or contractual relationship that would entitle a jury to conclude that but for Long's actions, Morton would have caused the future business it directed to R.J. to go instead to Atlantic. Similarly, there was no evidence that the postdeparture business that evolved between Morton and R.J. was pending or in the works prior to Long's leaving. [7] To clinch matters, Brunson testified without contradiction that from Morton's viewpoint Sobolewski's gruff personality and Atlantic's shoddy work product were to blame for the demise of the Morton/Atlantic relationship. In sum, on this record, we believe that no reasonable juror could have awarded lost-profit damages to Atlantic on the basis of Long's role in securing business for R.J. through his Morton contacts after he had left Atlantic. Thus, the trial justice should have directed a verdict in Long's favor for so much of Atlantic's lost-profit claims that were based on the postdeparture business Long had obtained for R.J.