RICHMOND – Troutman Pepper Locke secured a complete appellate victory for client Tim Clemente, the former president of Mission Integrated Technologies (MIT), when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision in a unanimous published opinion in Mission Integrated Technologies, LLC, v. Joshua Clemente. The appellate court upheld summary judgment on all claims brought by MIT, including breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets, and business conspiracy, and affirmed a $375,000 award of attorney’s fees.
MIT’s lawsuit arose from a business dispute concerning the company’s ARES mounted stairway design. MIT claimed that Tim Clemente breached fiduciary duties by allowing his son, Josh Clemente, access to the company’s intellectual property, enabling him to obtain a patent on the company’s product, which was later invalidated due to prior on-sale activity and public disclosures. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment, holding the fiduciary duty claim was time-barred under the three-year statute of limitations. The breach of contract claim against Josh Clemente also failed because he never signed a contract with MIT. The Fourth Circuit affirmed this decision, concluding MIT’s claims were either untimely or lacked genuine disputes of material fact, and emphasized the need for diligent pursuit of claims.
The appellate decision cited U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, who stated, “Many of those claims, in my view, should never have been brought in the first place, and, of course, I dismissed them ultimately in the case.”
The Troutman Pepper Locke team that successfully defended Tim Clemente included Andrew Henson, Matt DelDuca, Patrick Houston, and Elizabeth Andrews.
Troutman Pepper Locke’s Labor and Employment Practice Group is experienced in representing employers in even the most sensitive workplace matters, allowing clients to focus on running their businesses. The team handles labor and employment issues on a national, international, or local basis for clients ranging from international media companies to local restaurants. Troutman Pepper Locke’s attorneys advise on every type of employment issue a company can face, at every stage of the employment life cycle.
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