Jeanne Fugate

Jeanne Fugate's expertise encompasses various aspects of employee mobility, from drafting enforceable employment agreements to advising clients on best practices for on-boarding and off-boarding procedures, and ultimately, she handles litigation arising from employer-employee relationships.

In one recent case as lead counsel, she defeated a temporary injunction sought against her client, Sidetrade, in a dispute with HighRadius. The lawsuit stemmed from allegations that two former employees were violating post-employment restrictive covenants and that Sidetrade tortiously interfered with these employees' agreements by hiring them. Fugate successfully defended against these claims and the court denied HighRadius' request for a temporary injunction, ruling in favor of Sidetrade. This victory marked a significant milestone in protecting the mobility of workers in Texas.

"In this trade secrets and restrictive covenant case, the plaintiff former employer filed its TRO application on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2022," Fugate said. "... I am used to quick turnarounds, but the combination of voluminous discovery and hearing prep was intense for the first week. We ultimately managed to negotiate regarding the discovery requests and move the injunction hearing to late January in order to allow us more time to prepare, which resulted in the court completing denying the injunction as to our client Sidetrade, the new employer."

In Elevance Health, Inc. v. Mohan , 1:23-cv-01497 (S.D. Ind., filed Aug. 22, 2023) and Molina Healthcare, Inc., et al. v. Elevance Health, Inc ., 2:23-cv-07417 (C.D. Cal., Filed Sept. 7, 2023), Fugate's client faced a challenge related to trade secret misappropriation. Given the limitations on non-compete agreements in California, Elevance sought to prevent an executive from taking a job with a competitor based on a claim of trade secret misappropriation. Fugate and her team successfully defeated the trade secrets temporary restraining order (TRO), allowing the executive to start her new position.

In the evolving landscape of trade secrets, Fugate pointed out key trends. "Given the trend to limit or ban non-competes, companies should do an audit of their employment agreements and their policies and procedures regarding trade secret and confidential information to ensure that they will be best positioned to protect their trade secrets," she said. "This necessarily would include ensuring that trade secret material is properly kept confidential and that those who have access to those trade secrets sign written acknowledgements. Additionally, disputes may arise regarding choice of law when an employer is in one state and an employee in another with different legal standards, such as non-compete restrictions."

Fugate actively participates in organizations such as the Sedona Conference WG12 Model Defend Trade Secrets Act Jury Instructions Brainstorming Group, the Los Angeles City Board of Civil Service Commissioners, the CJA/CLA Civility in the Legal Profession Task Force and the Federal Bar Association, where she co-chairs the Government Relations committee. Fugate also served as a dinner chair for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers in 2021.