Align Technology, Inc. v. Tran
California Court of Appeal
102 Cal. Rptr. 3d 343 (2009)
Align (plaintiff) fired attorney Tran (defendant) and sued him in 2005 for misappropriating confidential information to help a competitor; Tran cross-claimed for wrongful termination, and the case settled. Align later discovered Tran had also run a competing side patent business while employed, using Align's confidential information, and sued him again in 2008 on related theories; Tran argued these new claims should have been raised as compulsory cross-claims in the 2005 case, and the trial court agreed and dismissed without leave to amend.
Whether a claim with a logical relationship to the claims in an existing lawsuit must be brought as a compulsory cross-claim in that litigation, or else be lost.