Leeham News and Analysis

Update: Order public: federal court denies Mammoth Freighter request for preliminary injunction in trade secret theft lawsuit

By Scott Hamilton

Update, Oct. 11, 2022, (c) Leeham News: The US District Court of Southern California posted its Oct. 7 order on Oct. 11 denying Mammoth Freighter’s motion for a preliminary injunction against David Dotzenroth, Sequoia Aircraft Conversions and NIAR, the engineering arm of the University of Wichita.

Among the findings:

• As reported below, the court ruled that there is no irreparable harm to Mammoth and that there is no likelihood of succeeding on the merits of the lawsuit.
• The court determined that Mammoth failed to specifically identify alleged trade secrets.
• Mammoth lost on every point alleged in the lawsuit, the court ruled.

A copy of the order is here: 10-6-22 Order Prelim Injunction and here: Oct 7 Order Prelim Injunction et al

What’s next?

Mammoth could move to dismiss the lawsuit. If it doesn’t, the Defendants could move for a Summary Judgment dismissing the lawsuit. Or Mammoth could proceed with the lawsuit despite the court’s conclusions to date.

There is no deadline to pursue any of these options.

In major blow, federal court denies Mammoth Freighter request for preliminary injunction in trade secret theft lawsuit

Oct. 7, 2022, © Leeham News: The US District Court of Southern California denied a request by Mammoth Freighters for a preliminary injunction against David Dotzenroth, Sequoia Aircraft Conversions and others in the long-running lawsuit alleging the defendants with theft of trade secrets and intellectual property.

The order was issued on Sept. 28, but it has not been published yet. LNA learned of the order in a filing yesterday by the defendants seeking publication of the order on the PACER court website.

“The Order was filed under seal as Document 373, but there is no entry on the public docket indicating that it was entered or that Plaintiffs’ motion was denied,” the attorney for Dotzenroth, et al, wrote in a motion seeking publication of the order.

Denial of the motion for a Preliminary Injunction is a major blow to Mammoth. Although the Oct. 6 motion doesn’t contain details of the Sept. 28 order, the Cornell University Law School website states factors a court will consider in a request for an injunction.

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