Legal services company CBX Law, LLC doing business as Latitude (“Latitude”) brought a lawsuit against alleged copycat company Lexikon Services, LLC in Tennessee state court. Latitude is seeking damages and injunctive relief based on allegations of trade secret misappropriation under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act and Tennessee’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act, breach of contract, intentional interference, and unjust enrichment.
Latitude alleged that it identified Austin, Texas as a primary target for expanding its operations and posted an advertisement for a potential attorney business partner in this market. Chris Murphy, who subsequently founded Lexikon, responded and entered into a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement with Latitude. Latitude alleged that it relied on these protections when having in-person and telephonic discussions with Murphy during which it shared trade secrets and confidential information about Latitude’s analysis of the Austin legal market, pricing and expense data, sales and recruiting methods, and financial modeling information. Murphy ended these discussions without entering into a partnership, and a few months later, formed Lexikon which purportedly used Latitude’s confidential and trade secret information.
In response to the lawsuit, Lexikon filed a Motion to Dismiss asserting a lack of general and personal jurisdiction because Lexikon is a Texas-based company, does not have any contacts in Tennessee, and has not conducted business and is not registered in the statute of Tennessee.