Foodcomm International v. Barry
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
328 F.3d 300 (2003)
Barry and Leacy (defendants), two of Foodcomm International's (plaintiff) highest-paid employees who exclusively handled its relationship with Empire Beef, secretly used Foodcomm's own computers to develop a business plan for a competing company, Outback Imports, to take over Foodcomm's Australian beef business with Empire, all while Leacy told Foodcomm he was trying to repair the relationship and neither employee disclosed the plan. After Outback began operating in 2002, Foodcomm sued for a preliminary injunction, and the district court found Barry and Leacy breached fiduciary duties owed to Foodcomm and granted the injunction; Barry and Leacy appealed.
Whether employees who are not officers or directors of a company may still be found to owe fiduciary duties to the company.