Yoder & Frey Auctioneers, Inc. v. EquipmentFacts, LLC

Yoder & Frey Auctioneers (Yoder) (plaintiff) was a company that hosted auctions for construction equipment. Yoder contracted with EquipmentFacts (Efacts) (defendant) for Efacts to provide online-bidding services to enable buyers to place live bids for Yoder’s internet auctions. In 2008, Yoder terminated the contract with Efacts and contracted with RealtimeBid.com (RTB) (plaintiff) for the same services. Yoder and RTB alleged that during Yoder’s 2010 online auction serviced by RTB, Efacts accessed the RTB bidding platform without authorization—by using an administrative password and posing as one of Yoder’s customers—and placed numerous winning bids in the auction. Efacts did not pay for the winning bids. When Yoder and RTB discovered what Efacts had done, Yoder and RTB sued Efacts for damages under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). At trial, Yoder and RTB offered evidence that Efacts’s unauthorized access to the bidding platform prevented Yoder’s customers from placing bids in the bidding slots that Efacts occupied. Further, Yoder and RTB testified that time and money were expended probing the winning bids that turned out to be submitted by Efacts as part of the unauthorized access. The jury found for Yoder and RTB. Efacts moved for a posttrial judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In support of the motion, Efacts argued that Yoder and RTB had failed to produce evidence that they had incurred damages resulting from the interruption in service due to Efacts’s unauthorized access. The district court denied the motion, finding that Yoder and RTB provided sufficient evidence that Efacts’s unauthorized access resulted in a denial of service to Yoder’s customers, who could not place bids in the bidding slots Efacts occupied. Efacts appealed.