American Family Mutual Insurance Company v. Roth
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
485 F.3d 930 (2005)
Facts
Several insurance agents (the agents) (defendants) sold insurance products on behalf of American Family Mutual Insurance Company (the company) (plaintiff). The agents signed an agency agreement, which required them to upload all customer information onto the company’s database and agree not to use or disclose the information except in the course of the company’s business. The company’s database filtered customer information and identified customers’ potential for purchasing specific insurance products. The agents could only access the information for their respective customers. The company subsequently terminated the agents, and the agents began soliciting the company’s customers, using a list they compiled separately from the company’s database. However, most of the customers on the list were also in the company’s database. The company filed suit against the agents for misappropriation of the company’s trade secrets. A magistrate judge granted the company’s motion for a preliminary injunction, holding that the agents were prohibited from downloading customer information from the company’s database. The agents appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Posner, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 708,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,500 briefs, keyed to 983 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
