In Sirius Computer Solutions, Inc. v. Sparks, Case No. 15-698 (Oct. 5, 2015), Plaintiff sued Defendant for violating his employment agreement when he resigned from Plaintiff and went to work for a competitor. Plaintiff filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in which it sought to enjoin Defendant from disclosing Plaintiff’s confidential information and from soliciting Plaintiff’s customers and employees. Defendant argued that he had no obligation regarding Plaintiff’s employees, and that the clause in the agreement prohibiting him from soliciting customers was invalid and unenforceable. He further argued that the request to enjoin him from disclosing confidential information was improper, as he had not done so in the past.
The Western District of Texas considered the requirements for obtaining a preliminary injunction, one of which is the likelihood of irreparable harm to the movant. Plaintiff contended that it would suffer a loss of customer relationships and goodwill as well as the loss of confidential and proprietary information. Plaintiff also produced emails from Defendant to Plaintiff’s customers showing his contacts with them; it also produced evidence that Defendant had solicited its employees. Finally, Plaintiff conducted a computer forensic examination of Defendant’s computer showing that Defendant had deleted at least 249 documents containing Plaintiff’s confidential information from his computer. Based upon this and other factors, the court granted the preliminary injunction.