Advice to Clients About Complying with Court Orders: “No means no.”

For years, Analog Techonologies Corp. has been fighting with its former employee Edward Knutson and the company he formed after leaving Analog, Dimation. It has gone badly from Mr. Knutson and for Dimation.

And, this week, it’s gone worse.

The image you see above is a “ball grid array,” (“BGA”) in part — tiny balls of solder under and between computer chips. Repairing these takes a little skill, I guess, and maybe some trade secrets, too.

Knutson was the defendant in a $1 million+ jury verdict for misappropriating Analog trade secrets in connection with BGA repair. He and Dimation were enjoined from BGA repair. Dimation went bankrupt, negotiating a $600,000 settlement in the bankruptcy contingent on adhering to certain conditions, like complying with the injunction.

Then, at trial when challenged for violating the injunction (and thus voiding the settlement), Knutson admitted to doing $8,000 BGA repair while the injunction was in place.

The trial court did not have a problem with that and ruled that this did not violate the injunction. The Court of Appeals ruled this week that the trial court’s ruling was “clear error.”

That was a very costly $8,000 job because undertaking it appears to have voided the settlement of the > $1 million judgment for $600,000.

Congratulations for Plaintiff and counsel, Dean LeDoux and Sam Diehl of Gray Plant Mooty. I guess it’s back to their client’s collection efforts…