Husch Blackwell scored a complete victory on summary judgment for Farmobile LLC in U.S. District Court in connection with a lawsuit brought by Farmers Edge alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and seeking a judgment be entered declaring Farmers Edge to be the owner of certain Farmobile intellectual property.
Following the summary judgment ruling, the parties have since settled the remaining individual counterclaims asserted by Jason Tatge, Heath Gerlock, and Clarke Gerlock against Farmers Edge. Although the Court denied Farmobile’s request for recovery of attorneys’ fees in a separate ruling, the Court reiterated its prior findings in favor of Farmobile in its decision.
In the Court’s May ruling granting summary judgment to Farmobile, U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon dismissed all claims brought by Farmers Edge, writing that Farmers Edge “failed to identify any use or disclosure of the alleged trade secrets” and that it failed to sustain “its burden to show that it is entitled to the requested damages or equitable relief in the form of assignment of Farmobile’s patent rights.”
The parties still have two additional ongoing lawsuits filed by Farmobile after it was sued by Farmers Edge. The first involves claims for civil conspiracy and unjust enrichment filed against Farmers Edge and Ronald Wiley Osborne, presently pending in Nebraska state court. In the second suit, which is pending in Canada, Farmobile alleges that Farmers Edge has infringed its Canadian patent through its operation of the CANPlug.
Based in Leawood, Kansas, Farmobile is an independent farm data company, whose technology enables farmers to collect, share and monetize their farm data to improve efficiencies and increase farm revenues. Its founders—Jason Tatge, Heath Gerlock and Randy Nuss—are former employees of a company acquired by Farmers Edge.
The Husch Blackwell team was led by Marnie Jensen and included Kamron Hasan, Ryann Glenn, Dustin Taylor, Sierra Faler, Tricie Loudon and Audrey Murphy. Former Husch Blackwell partner Joan Archer led Farmobile’s in-house effort as the company’s General Counsel.