Court Opinion

ID: 9798014
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:34:32.209966+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:00:16.841784
License: Public Domain

HILL, Chief Justice,
dissenting,
in which GOLDEN, Justice, joins.
[¶ 17] I respectfully dissent because I perceive that the protection of trade secrets and other confidential economic information developed by employers has become an increasingly complex issue that is fraught with technicalities and permeated with vital public policy issues. I would have answered the certified questions in the negative and referred the responsibility for answering those questions to the legislature. Wyo. Const, art. 2, § 1 provides: “The powers of the government of this state are divided into three distinct departments: The legislative, executive and judicial, and no person or collection of persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as in this constitution expressly directed or permitted.”
[¶ 18] The majority expressly recognizes the complexities of the issues at hand, that the Restatement of Torts § 757 has been deprived of the essence of its vitality, and that this Court does not have authority to adopt the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). The vast majority of jurisdictions now use UTSA, or other legislative enactments, to govern this area of law. Prior to this litigation, Wyoming was alone in not having given recognition to a civil remedy to protect trade secrets. Wyoming will now be alone in adopting the Restatement (Third) of *937Unfair Competition as the vehicle for filling in this gap. It is my conviction that the Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition so closely resembles a system of statutes, akin to UTSA, that the adoption of it as the governing law in Wyoming is a usurpation of the Legislature’s authority and responsibility.