Elena R. Baca

Baca is defending clothing manufacturer American Apparel Inc. against numerous claims from its ousted CEO, Dov Charney. She is asserting California constitutional and Public Records Act claims for the California Trucking Association. And the California Cartage Co. hired her to fend off a trio of cases related to its operations at the Port of Los Angeles.

But it’s a two-state fracas over no-poach employment contracts that has Baca in the thick of interstate litigation as she shuttles between courts in California and Texas seeking to resolve the question of a highly paid senior executive for client Amphenol Fiber Systems International of Allen, Texas, who fled to Fiber’s direct competitor Glenair Inc. of Glendale.

“We have dueling courts, and that’s different and new,” she said. The senior executive, Michael Dabrowski, took with him to Glenair knowledge of Fiber’s most sensitive and valuable information about its strategic and budgetary plans for 2017-2019. He shared confidential business information with former Fiber clients on behalf of Glenair, despite a temporary restraining order forbidding him from doing so. Key to Fiber’s case was that Dabrowski had signed a Texas Employment Agreement with Fiber that contained Texas choice of law and venue provisions and precluded certain post-employment activities.

Glenair sued in Los Angeles Superior Court, asking a California judge to wade into the Texas dispute to invalidate Fiber’s lawful post-employment restraints on Dabrowski. Baca sued for Fiber in Collin County, Texas, seeking to enjoin Dabrowski from working for Glenair. “Because Glenair is a California company, they point to an older iteration of the Business and Professions Code that gave competitors a way to go to court and get injunctive relief,” Baca said. “We say that law has been narrowed [by a 2004 ballot initiative].” So far, the competing suits have produced “a lot of wrangling back and forth between the two courts,” she added. In California the court granted Baca’s motion to dismiss some claims; the Texas case is in discovery with trial set for next February.

“If they prevail, it will radically shift California employment law,” she said. “Any company in California will have an advantage in that they could hire anyone anywhere despite lawful post-employment restrictions. That doesn’t seem right.” Fiber Systems International Inc. v. Dabrowski, 417-05506-2016 (417th D. Collin Cty., Tex., filed March 16, 2016) and Glenair Inc. v. Amphenol Corp., EC065871 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 15, 2016).

“I’ve spent a lot of time in Texas on this case, and I’m liking Texas so far just fine. They have great clarity of mind down there, because I’m winning,” Baca said. “It’s fun. How could I not enjoy what I do?”

— John Roemer