GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC v. Dandy

Filing 43

ORDER granting 42 Motion for Permanent Injunction. Counsel is reminded to read the order in its entirety for detailed information. Signed by Senior Judge James C. Fox on 4/22/2014. (Edwards, S.)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
Civil Action No. 7: 13-cv-00038-F
GE-HIT ACHI NUCLEAR ENERGY
AMERICAS, LLC,
Plaintiff,
vs.

LeRA Y T. DANDY,

ORDER OF PERMANENT
INJUNCTION

Defendant.
THIS MATIER is before the Court on the Consent Motion of the parties to resolve the
request of Plaintiff GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC ("Plaintiff' or "GE-Hitachi") for
an Order of Permanent Injunction ("Order") pursuant to the provisions of Rule 65 of the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure. The Court has been apprised, through the Consent Motion, that the
parties have agreed to the terms of this Order as part of an overall settlement of this litigation.
With the consent of the Plaintiff and the Defendant, the Court makes the following Findings of
Fact and Conclusions of Law.
FINDINGS OF FACT
I.

GE-Hitachi filed this action in New Hanover County Superior Court on February

20, 2013, against former employee LeRay T. Dandy ("Dandy"). GE-Hitachi's Complaint sets
forth causes of action for breach of contract and injunctive relief, misappropriation of trade
secrets, conversion, and unfair and deceptive trade practices.
2.

On March I, 2013, Dandy filed Notice of the Removal of this action in the United

States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

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3.

Dandy was employed by GE-Hitachi from August 11, 2008, as a Senior Engineer

until he resigned on January 4, 2013.
4.

At the time that Dandy began his employment at GE-Hitachi, he signed an

Employee Innovation and Proprietary Information Agreement (the "Employee Agreement") that
controls the manner in which GE-Hitachi information may be copied and disseminated during
and after employment. In consideration of Dandy's employment by GE-Hitachi and the
compensation paid to him by GE-Hitachi, Dandy agreed to, inter alia, the following terms
of employment:
(e) at the Company's request, or upon any termination (or other ending) of
my employment to deliver to the Company promptly all items that belong
to the Company or its parent, subsidiaries or affiliates or that by their nature
are for the use of Company employees only, including, without limitation,
all written and other materials that are of a secret* or confidential* nature
relating to the business of the Company or its affiliates;
(h) I acknowledge that breach of any obligation or other provision of this
agreement may cause irreparable injury to the Company which cannot be
fully compensated by money. I therefore agree that in the event of any
breach or threatened breach of this agreement by me, the Company shall be
entitled to injunctive or other equitable relief as may be permitted by law.
5.

As a Senior Engineer, Dandy completed tasks related to the structural

evaluations of GE-Hitachi's steam dryer, a piece of hardware included in a boiling water
reactor. In order to participate in that analysis, Mr. Dandy had access to confidential,
proprietary, and trade secret information.
6.

On January 4, 2013, Dandy resigned his employment from GE-Hitachi.

Following his resignation, Dandy began employment with Westinghouse. Westinghouse
is GE-Hitachi's primary competitor for boiling water reactor steam dryer-related work.
7.

Previously, on January 10, 2012, Dandy had filed a complaint under seal in
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United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina alleging violations
by GE-Hitachi of the False Claims Act ("FCA") in case number 7:12-CV-9-BO. The
United States intervened in the action and the Parties, the United States, GE-Hitachi and
Dandy, settled the action. GE-Hitachi did not admit liability for any of the acts alleged in
the complaint.
8.

During his employment at GE-Hitachi, Dandy copied and removed GEH

proprietary documents from the company's servers. Through his attorneys and agents, he
remains in possession of them.

Specifically, Dandy personally possessed GE-Hitachi

documents on his personal laptop computer and two data storage devices ("thumb
drives"). Those devices and data were delivered to National Digital Forensics ("NDF")
by Dandy's attorneys in February 2013 and have been in NDF's possession since that
time.
9.

On or about March 21, 2014, the parties entered into a Confidential Release and

Settlement Agreement ("the Settlement Agreement") to fully resolve this lawsuit. Pursuant to
the terms of the Settlement Agreement, Dandy has consented to the entry of injunctive relief
terms consistent with the terms set forth in this Order of Permanent Injunction.
I0.

Dandy denies that his conduct constitutes a cause of action for breach of contract,

misappropriation of trade secrets, conversion or unfair and deceptive trade practices.
Nevertheless, Dandy and GE-Hitachi desire to resolve this lawsuit without further proceedings
and agree to the entry of this Order of Permanent Injunction.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
I.

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The Court has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter. and the court
will retain jurisdiction over this matter for the purpose of
ensuring compliance with this permanent injunction.

2.

Entry ofthis Permanent Injunction is just and proper.

3.

The Findings of Fact support the entry of injunctive relief against Dandy as set

forth below and injunctive relief is authorized pursuant to the Employee Agreement.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendant Dandy, his agents, servants, employees
and attorneys, and all other persons who are in active concert or participation with them, shall be
and are hereby permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly disseminating, discussing,
disclosing, sharing, transferring, or using: ( 1) any of the confidential, proprietary or business
sensitive information, documents or data of GE-Hitachi to which Dandy had access while at GEHitachi or which Dandy saved, uploaded, downloaded, copied or otherwise obtained from GEHitachi, including, but not limited to, all GE-Hitachi information, documents or data stored on
Dandy's personal laptop computer or other device; and (2) any and all information concerning
GE-Hitachi's steam dryer engineering analysis process. The prohibitions contained in this Order
shall not in any way apply to disclosures or conversations between Dandy or his attorneys and
the United States Government. Furthermore, the prohibitions contained in this Order shall not
apply to Dandy acknowledging, in response to a request from a third party, the existence ofthe
Complaint referenced in Paragraph 7 above. This prohibition shall apply without regard to the
form of such information, documents, or data (hard copy, electronic, etc.), the medium on which
it was or is transferred or stored, the degree of specificity or level of detail of the information
disclosed or conveyed, or the intended recipient of the information; and
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant Dandy, his agents, servants, employees and
attorneys and all other persons who are in active concert or participation with him, shall refrain
from possessing any confidential, proprietary and business sensitive information, documents or
data of GE-Hitachi to which Dandy had access while at GE-Hitachi or which Dandy saved,
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uploaded, downloaded, copied or otherwise obtained from GE-Hitachi, including, but not limited
to all GE-Hitachi information, documents or data stored on Dandy's personal laptop computer or
other device and all information concerning GE-Hitachi's steam dryer engineering analysis
process. This prohibition shall apply without regard to the form of such information, documents,
or data (hard copy, electronic, etc.), the medium on which it was transferred or stored, or the
degree of specificity or level of detai I of the information, documents or data.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant Dandy's personal laptop computer and any
storage devices or other media on which GE-Hitachi information, documents or data are stored
and all forensic images made of those contents, including forensic images in the custody and
control of National Digital Forensics, shall be provided to Lighthouse eDiscovery ("Lighthouse")
within five (5) business days of the Effective Date of the Settlement Agreement for the purpose
of Lighthouse taking possession of the images and purging all information, documents or data
from such personal laptop computer and storage devices and returning, after confirmation from a
third-party expert, the laptop and storage devices to Dandy.

Any violation of this Order shall constitute a contempt of court.
SO ORDERED .
This the

.J~

J.l day of__,_.,..-· 2014.

JA~SC.FOX
Semor United States District Court Judge

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