OrthoPediatrics filed a lawsuit against former employee Robert von Seggern and WishBone Medical, alleging the two violated Indiana's and federal trade secrets statues.
Here are three insights:
1. The pediatrics-focused company claims Mr. von Seggern took trade secrets and confidential information from the company and gave it to WishBone Medical.
2. Since filing the lawsuit, Orthopediatrics issued a sanction request. The company filed the motion in the Whitley Superior Court due to Mr. von Seggern and WishBone Medical's "repeated, deliberate efforts to subvert to discovery process by refusing to produce responsive documents and information, hiding or otherwise destroying evidence and making misstatements to Orthopediatrics and the court concerning the existence of responsive documents and its efforts to find and produce such materials."
3. OrthoPediatrics alleged WishBone Medical used the trade secrets to develop pediatric orthopedic products.
"OrthoPediatrics welcomes legitimate competition because that means more kids with pediatric orthopedic conditions will have greater opportunities to be helped," Daniel Gerritzen, vice president and general counsel of OrthoPediatrics, said. "However, we will not tolerate individuals or entities misappropriating our property, in part, to leapfrog years of design and testing work and avoid the significant monetary expense of bringing competing products to market. With this in mind, we will continue to aggressively pursue every legal remedy to protect and safeguard our research and product development efforts to improve the lives of children with pediatric conditions."