Opinion ID: 1159639
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Nevada Uniform Trade Secrets Act

Text: NRS 600A.090 of the Nevada Uniform Trade Secrets Act, titled Effects of chapter on other law and remedies, provides that: 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, this chapter displaces conflicting tort, restitutionary, and other law of this state providing civil remedies for misappropriation of a trade secret. 2. This chapter does not affect: (a) Contractual remedies, whether or not based upon misappropriation of a trade secret; (b) Other civil remedies that are not based upon misappropriation of a trade secret; or (c) Except as otherwise provided in NRS 600A.035, criminal sanctions, whether or not based upon misappropriation of a trade secret. (Emphasis added.) The plain language of NRS 600A.090 precludes a plaintiff from bringing a tort or restitutionary action based upon misappropriation of a trade secret beyond that provided by the UTSA. In interpreting NRS 600A.090, a federal district court has held that a plaintiffs claims for unjust enrichment and unfair competition were precluded by the UTSA since these two claims were duplicative of plaintiff's claim for misappropriation of trade secrets. See Hutchison v. KFC Corp., 809 F.Supp. 68, 70 (D.Nev.1992). In light of the plain language of NRS 600A.090 and the holding in Hutchison, [3] we conclude that the district court erred in relying on numerous tort and restitutionary causes of action that were explicitly excluded by statute, as they all related to a misappropriation of a trade secret. Specifically, the district court erred in awarding damages based on the following causes of action: (1) misappropriation of confidential information, (2) breach of fiduciary duty, (3) intentional interference with contractual relations, (4) intentional interference with prospective advantage, (5) the tort of breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, [4] (6) civil conspiracy, and (7) unjust enrichment. These causes of action would normally be precluded by NRS 600A.090 because they arose from a single factual episode, namely misappropriation of bidding and pricing information. Although we conclude that the district court erred in grounding liability in common law claims that were displaced by statute, we further conclude that this error was harmless. See NRCP 61. We determine that this error was harmless in light of the fact that NRS 600A.090 merely codifies the common law elements of misappropriation of confidential information of which JBM pleaded and proffered sufficient circumstantial evidence at trial. The elements of a misappropriation of trade secrets claim include: (1) a valuable trade secret; [5] (2) misappropriation [6] of the trade secret through use, disclosure, or non-disclosure of use of the trade secret; and (3) the requirement that the misappropriation be wrongful because it was made in breach of an express or implied contract or by a party with a duty not to disclose. See Peter R.J. Thompson, An Outline of 23 California Common Law Business Torts, 13 Pac. L.J. 1, 19-20 (1981); see also NRS 600A.030(2) (defining misappropriation). The determination of whether corporate information, such as customer and pricing information, is a trade secret is a question for the finder of fact. See Woodward Insur., Inc. v. White, 437 N.E.2d 59, 67 (Ind.1982). Factors to be considered include: (1) the extent to which the information is known outside of the business and the ease or difficulty with which the acquired information could be properly acquired by others; (2) whether the information was confidential or secret; (3) the extent and manner in which the employer guarded the secrecy of the information; and (4) the former employee's knowledge of customer's buying habits and other customer data and whether this information is known by the employer's competitors. ... Id. (citations omitted); see also K.H. Larsen, Annotation, Former Employee's Duty, in Absence of Express Contract, Not to Solicit Former Employer's Customers or Otherwise Use This Knowledge of Customer Lists Acquired in Earlier Employment, 28 A.L.R.3d 7 (1969) (setting forth a comprehensive list of factors for consideration of whether customer information constitutes a trade secret). We emphasize that not every customer and pricing list will be protected as a trade secret. In Neal v. Griepentrog, 108 Nev. 660, 666, 837 P.2d 432, 435 (1992), this court held that discount lists given by hospitals to various medical providers were not trade secrets, and should therefore be disclosed to the public. The instant customer and pricing information, however, is unlike that in Neal because there was testimony below that it was extremely confidential, its secrecy was guarded, and it was not readily available to others because the plastic gaming card industry is highly specialized.