CALG’s Anna-Rose Mathieson and Susan Yorke persuaded the California Court of Appeal’s Second District to affirm the denial of a trade secrets preliminary injunction involving five-star luxury Beverly Hills hotels.

The dispute arose after a highly experienced employee left the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel to work for the new Waldorf Astoria. The Peninsula sued for misappropriation of trade secrets, alleging the employee had stolen information about their high-value guests and used that information to promote the Waldorf’s opening to royal family members, government officials, and agencies in the Middle East.

Peninsula sought a sweeping injunction that would have essentially prevented the employee from working for any hotel competitor. After the trial court denied Peninsula’s motion, CALG stepped in to defend that ruling on appeal.

Following extensive briefing on California trade secrets law from sophisticated counsel on all sides, the appellate court affirmed in full. The court agreed with CALG’s characterizations of the law and the record, deemed Peninsula unlikely to succeed on its claims in the litigation, and ruled the denial of the preliminary injunction correct.  

The case is The Belvedere Hotel Partnership v. Tasco, and the opinion is available here.