General Automotive Manufacturing Co. v. Singer
Wisconsin Supreme Court
120 N.W.2d 659 (1963)
Singer (defendant), Automotive's (plaintiff) general manager of operations under a contract barring outside employment and information disclosure harmful to Automotive, secretly diverted orders he judged Automotive couldn't fill competitively to a rival machine shop, pocketing the price difference himself, and later ran his own manufacturer's-consulting business brokering the same type of orders Automotive handled, all without ever telling Automotive about either activity while remaining its employee. When Automotive discovered the scheme, it sued for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty; the trial court found for Automotive and ordered Singer to disgorge his profits from the side business.
Whether an employee who operates a business competing with his employer, without disclosing that business to the employer, has committed a breach of fiduciary duty.