Ninth Circuit OKs $2.6 Million Award In Ex-Counsel’s Posting of Litigation Data

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Feb. 3 refused to vacate a $2.6 million arbitration award, concluding that a former in-house counsel for Toyota Motor Sales breached his severance agreement by disclosing the company’s confidential information on his new consulting business website (Biller v. Toyota Motor Corp., 9th Cir., No. 11-55587).

The severance agreement at issue came about as a means to settle Dimitrios Peter Biller’s wrongful discharge claims. The agreement prohibited Biller from disclosing Toyota’s confidential information. Biller, however, posted confidential Toyota products liability litigation information on his website.

An arbitrator awarded Toyota $2.5 ...