A New Hampshire jury ruled Tuesday against a group of Auburn companies after a seven-day trial over trade secrets in the energy sector.
In a unanimous ruling, the Rockingham County Superior Court jury returned an award of roughly $550,000 for damages.
The jury ruled that the defendants stole trade secrets and conspired to harm the plaintiff’s businesses by misappropriating customer contracts and accounts, said Christopher Carter, a Concord, N.H., attorney who represented the plaintiffs in the suit. That conspiracy was willful, malicious and in bad faith, Carter said. Attorneys fees and costs will be decided later by the trial judge.
The plaintiffs — Halifax-American Energy Company, Freedom Logistics, Resident Power Natural Gas & Electric Solutions and PNE Energy Supply — are a family of New Hampshire-based companies of energy suppliers and brokers. Although the defendants are based in Maine, they are competitors in the energy market, Carter said.
In the lawsuit, filed in June 2014 and amended in February 2015, the plaintiffs claimed that the defendants conspired with a former sales representative for the plantiffs’ companies to steal their customer lists and other confidential and proprietary information, and used that information against the plaintiff businesses “by gaining an unfair advantage in the highly competitive markets for energy supply and brokerage services,” according to the complaint.
Defendants Provider Power, Electricity N.H. and Electricity Maine are at 306 Rodman Road in Auburn, according to the complaint.
Also named in the suit are Emile Clavet, owner and vice president of the defendant companies, and Kevin Dean, owner and president of the companies that were sued.
“This was a complete vindication of the Freedom companies’ claims that the defendants engaged in an unlawful conspiracy that sought to unjustly enrich themselves and harm my client’s business,” Carter said.
The defendants’ attorney, Andru Volinsky, who has offices in Portland and Manchester, N.H., said Tuesday the case is far from over, despite the jury’s verdict, which he characterized as “fairly inconsistent.”
“It was a long, complex trial,” he said. In its 15-page verdict form, the jury’s answers were inconsistent, he said.
Volinsky said he plans to file motions with the trial judge that may affect the final outcome of the case in trial court. Moreover, he plans to appeal the case to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which hears appeals on points of law and constitutional issues.
“It will be years before the case is finally resolved,” he predicted.
The jury found that trade secrets were misappropriated but decided they were of no value, Volinsky said. Although the plaintiffs said they couldn’t figure out how much the damages totaled, the jury awarded damages, anyway, he said.
“There are a number of problems that will be addressed on appeal,” he said.
Volinsky said that during his time working with the defendant companies and their founders, he’d heard about their efforts to help Maine nonprofit organizations. “I just have all kinds of respect for” Clavet and Dean, he said, praising their local employment of hundreds of workers and commitment to the local economy.
“I don’t think anyone should take this as a reflection on their business practices,” he said. “The last word has not yet been spoken.”
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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