Bell Aerospace Services, Inc. v. U.S. Aero Services, Inc.

690 F. Supp. 2d 1267 (2010)

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Bell Aerospace Services, Inc. v. U.S. Aero Services, Inc.

United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
690 F. Supp. 2d 1267 (2010)

  • Written by Sharon Feldman, JD

Facts

Bell Aerospace Services, Inc. (Bell) (plaintiff) provided helicopter-maintenance support to government and non-government agencies. Steve Matherly (defendant) sold helicopters and parts to Bell. Bell fired Hartwell Wilson (defendant), the company’s vice president of operations. Two months later, Wilson and Matherly founded U.S. Aero Services, Inc. (U.S. Aero) (defendant). Six Bell employees (defendants) were recruited by U.S. Aero and resigned from Bell approximately two weeks later. A seventh Bell employee (defendant) sought and was offered a position with U.S. Aero and immediately resigned from Bell. Bell ended the employment of each of the employees who had resigned and escorted the former employees from the company’s premises. While still employed, the employees had usernames and passwords to access Bell’s servers and computer network. Bell discovered that copies of production materials were missing and investigated what the former employees had taken or copied. Bell sued U.S. Aero, Matherly, Wilson, and the seven former employees for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by accessing Bell’s computers without authorization or in excess of their authority, taking Bell’s confidential and proprietary information, and causing Bell damage and loss. U.S. Aero and the employees moved for summary judgment on Bell’s CFAA claim, arguing that they had permission to access Bell’s computer system. Bell maintained that an employee acts without authorization whenever he breaches his fiduciary duty of loyalty to an employer in accessing documents on the employer’s protected computer.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Thompson, J.)

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