Kansas Supreme Court - 99536 – Wolfe Electric, Inc. v. Duckworth

Wolfe Electric denies any error, responding that Instruction 3 is just the "combined
proposed contention instructions of both parties." It also argues that the jury was properly
instructed on the elements of KUTSA in Instructions 9 and 10. Accordingly, it appears to
conclude these instructions, taken together, were substantially correct and the jury could
not reasonably have been misled by them.
Instruction 3 is seven pages long. The following provisions contain Wolfe Electric's
allegations regarding defendants' violations of KUTSA:
"The Plaintiff claims that is [sic] sustained damage due to the following alleged
violations of the Kansas Uniform Trade Secrets Act by the Defendants, Terry Duckworth
and Global Cooking Systems, LLC:
"1) using or attempting to use Wolfe Electric's trade secrets and
confidential information to develop, manufacture and sell conveyor pizza ovens;
"2) conveying Plaintiff Wolfe Electric's trade secrets and confidential
information to JayCat, Inc. d/b/a Carlson Products to develop, manufacture and
sell conveyor pizza ovens;
"3) using or attempting to use Wolfe Electric's trade secrets and
confidential information to solicit or attempt to solicit conveyor oven pizza sales to
Wolfe Electric former, current or prospective customers;
"4) using or attempting to use Wolfe Electric's trade secrets and
confidential information to solicit or attempt to solicit from Wolfe's vendors and
suppliers." (Emphasis added.)
We begin our analysis by agreeing with defendants that KUTSA only prohibits
misappropriation of "trade secrets." It does not mention "confidential information."
Accordingly, remedies concerning nontrade secrets, e.g., mere confidential information,
cannot be obtained through a KUTSA cause of action. See, e.g., First Advantage
Background Services v. Private Eyes, 569 F. Supp. 2d 929, 942 (N.D. Cal. 2008) ("By its
own terms, however, CUTSA only provides remedies for misappropriation of trade
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