Mark Brown, Deborah Christopher, and David Graben (the “defendants”) were employees of Allied Supply Company, Inc., an industrial supply company. All three held managerial positions; Brown and Christopher were also corporate officers. On January 19, 1988, the three individuals resigned and formed their own industrial supply company.
Allied filed suit against them, alleging that the defendants had misappropriated customer and vendor lists before they left. Allied contended that those lists were trade secrets, and that, by misappropriating the lists, the defendants had violated both the common law and the Alabama Trade Secrets Act.
Evidence at trial showed “at least 10 Allied employees had free access to the lists. In addition, the lists were not marked ‘confidential’; the lists were taken home by employees; multiple copies of each list existed; and the information on the lists was contained in the receptionist’s Rolodex file.” How should the court rule on this claim?