The recent case of American Airlines v. Charles F. Imhof and Delta Airlines, Inc., 620 F.Supp.2d 574 (SDNY 2009) (Kaplan, J.), puts another nail in the coffin of the “inevitable disclosure doctrine” when used as a substitute for an employee noncompetition agreement, and keeps federal jurisprudence in line with New York’s long standing hostility to the doctrine.
In American, the court refused to enjoin Charles F. Imhof, a long-time manager at American Airlines, from working in a similar capacity at Delta, even though Mr. Imhof admittedly e-mailed internal American Airlines documents to himself prior to resigning. American’s invocation of the inevitable disclosure doctrine did not reduce its burden in establishing irreparable harm; the court characterized American’s theory as “ephemeral,” and found that American failed to show “specific confidential information,” or “protectible information of substantial sensitivity,” as to which there was a real threat of use by Mr. Imhof, to the detriment of American.1
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