Opinion
Case No.: 2:16-cv-02500-APG-BNW
11-02-2020
OCTAFORM SYSTEMS INC. and OCTAFORM INC., Plaintiff v. BRUCE JOHNSTON, ALBA LUCIA LOZANO HERNANDEZ JOHNSTON, JUN YU, CAROLINA DIAZ, and H-PAC PLASTICS, LLC, Defendants
Order Denying Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
[ECF Nos. 142, 143]
Plaintiffs Octaform Systems Inc. and Octaform Inc. (collectively Octaform) sue their former employees and the company they allegedly formed. Octaform asserts claims for trade secret misappropriation and related torts. The defendants move for partial summary judgment, arguing that an arbitration in Canada (the Huajun arbitration) already determined the amount of damages for which the defendants may be liable on the unjust enrichment claim. Octaform responds that the motion is premature because this case is stayed pending the outcome of a second arbitration in Canada involving defendants Bruce and Alba Johnston (the Johnstons' arbitration).
I deny the defendants' motion for partial summary judgment as premature. Because the outcome of both arbitrations could have an impact on this case, the case is stayed. ECF Nos. 108; 118 at 37. The defendants argue that only trial is stayed. But my intention in the hearing was to stay the entire case, subject to the discussed conditions and absent a motion to lift the stay. The parties acknowledged that a stay "should remain in place until the decision is issued in the Johnstons' Canadian arbitration." ECF No. 137 at 2. Because the Johnstons' arbitration has not concluded, the stay remains. The defendants' motion for partial summary judgment is therefore premature.
I THEREFORE ORDER that the defendants' motion for partial summary judgment (ECF Nos. 142, 143) is DENIED without prejudice.
DATED this 2nd day of November, 2020.
/s/_________
ANDREW P. GORDON
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE