Paramount Tax and Accounting, LLC “Paramount” and Mary Squire appeal from an order finding them in civil contempt based upon their alleged violation of a preliminary injunction order entered against them and in favor of Squire’s former employer, H & R Block Eastern Enterprises, Inc. “Block”. Because this Court previously reversed in part and vacated in part the injunction in question Paramount Tax & Accounting, LLC v. H & R Block Eastern Enterprises, Inc. 1 “Paramount I “, we must reverse the finding of contempt. As set forth more fully in Paramount I , supra, Block sued Paramount and Squire, asserting a breach of employment contract claim against Squire and a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets against both Squire and Paramount. Following a hearing on Block’s motion for an interlocutory injunction, the trial court found that the restrictive covenants contained in Squire’s employment contract with Block were enforceable, that the information contained in Block’s computerized client database constituted a trade secret, and that Squire and Paramount had acted together to misappropriate that trade secret. Based on these findings, the trial court entered an order: 1 enjoining Squire from engaging in any conduct that violated the non-competition and non-solicitation covenants found in her employment contract; and 2 enjoining Squire and Paramount from performing any tax preparation work for any of the 16,000 individuals and entities listed in the Block client database for Block’s Gainesville District.
Paramount and Squire appealed that order, and this Court reversed the first part of the injunction, based on our holding that the restrictive covenants in Squire’s employment contract were unenforceable. Paramount I , slip op. at 14 1. We affirmed the trial court’s finding that Paramount and Squire had misappropriated information from Block’s client database, but nevertheless vacated the second part of the injunction because it was overly broad and therefore afforded Block “protection to which it was not entitled under the Trade Secrets Act”. Id., slip op. at 23 3.
