Perficient, Inc. v. Munley, No. 19-2951 (8th Cir. 2020)
Annotate this CaseIn 2019, Perficient filed suit against its former employee and his new employer, Spaulding, alleging claims including breach of contract and violations of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, and the Missouri Uniform Trade Secrets Act. The district court ruled in favor of Perficient, concluding that the employee violated the covenant-not-to-compete provision in his employment contract. The district court then granted permanent injunctive relief of short duration. The employee and Spaulding timely filed this interlocutory appeal but did not seek a stay of the district court’s order pending appeal. The injunction expired in May 2020 on its own, with the appeal pending and further proceedings stayed in the district court. The Eighth Circuit held that the district court's injunction has become moot and remanded to the district court for further proceedings. Furthermore, none of the traditional exceptions to mootness apply. Accordingly, the court dismissed the appeal.
Court Description: [Loken, Author, with Shepherd and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Contracts. In this action alleging Munley had breached his contract and violated the Defend Trade Secrets Act by taking new employment his former employee contended violated the covenant-not-to-compete provisions in his employment contract, the district court entered an injunction of short duration enjoining Munley and his new employer from certain actions; an interlocutory appeal was filed by Munley and his new employer, but while the matter was pending, the injunction expired on its own terms; the appeal is moot, and the matter is remanded to the district court for further proceedings.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.