{"id":3109,"date":"2024-10-28T17:26:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T17:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/former-jury-researcher-accused-of-stealing-legal-service-providers-trade-secrets-clients\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T17:26:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T17:26:08","slug":"former-jury-researcher-accused-of-stealing-legal-service-providers-trade-secrets-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/former-jury-researcher-accused-of-stealing-legal-service-providers-trade-secrets-clients\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Jury Researcher Accused of Stealing Legal Service Provider’s Trade Secrets, Clients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A North Carolina jury research and consulting company lodged a trade secrets lawsuit against a former employee who is accused of creating an identical business and targeting the\u00a0clients in Florida and Georgia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Tuesday, attorneys with Fox Rothschild filed a multicount trade secrets complaint<\/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on behalf of Jury-X, a jury and analysis company that uses\u00a0human and artificial intelligence to help identify juror bias.\u00a0The plaintiff claims\u00a0its former researcher, Lauren Kulp, formed a “knock-off version” of\u00a0its legal services through a company called, Tandem Legal Solutions. Additionally, Jury-X claims the defendants have already started working with Jury-X’s trial attorney clients, the complaint said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Tandem can only be offering the services that it claims to be offering if it has use of Jury-X’s trade secrets and confidential information that defendant Kulp misappropriated,” the complaint said. “Having now discovered this evidence of defendant Kulp’s theft of and continued access to Jury-X’s trade secrets and confidential information, Jury-X is filing this lawsuit and seeking injunctive relief to mitigate any further imminent and irreparable harm caused by defendant Kulp’s unlawful conduct.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Before resigning from her role as a researcher in December, Kulp allegedly linked her personal email to one of Jury-X’s servers, which gave her “unauthorized personal backdoor access to document(s).” Additionally, Jury-X put forth a growing list of evidence that suggests Kulp and Tandem illegally used\u00a0proprietary methodologies and created an “alarmingly similar” website, the 12-count complaint said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On at least three occasions earlier this year, current Jury-X employees claimed they ran into Kulp at the\u00a0Raleigh-Durham International Airport, where she claimed she was traveling for work with an orthopedic research organization, the complaint said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Later, however, Jury-X learned that defendant Kulp had lied to cover up that she was actually performing jury analysis and selection services for at least two of Jury-X’s clients for whom defendant Kulp had worked with while employed with Jury-X,” the plaintiff claims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kulp was seen in a Hillsborough County, Florida courtroom with one of the plaintiff’s clients, performing jury selection analysis, according to the Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based Jury-X.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a subsequent cease-and-desist letter, Kulp allegedly admitted to “doing jury consulting work” with several of its clients in Florida and Georgia, though she denied using the plaintiff’s proprietary application or methodology. Kulp maintained she was using her background in the jury selection industry and trial support, but her former employer claims she “never mentioned having prior knowledge or experience in jury selection.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Within the last few weeks, two clients that defendant Kulp serviced in the spring after her resignation also canceled trials that had been scheduled for Jury-X’s to assist with. Upon information and belief, defendants Kulp and\u00a0Tandem performed or are performing jury selection services for these two trials,” the complaint said. “Now, the threat to Jury-X is no longer theoretical\u2014defendants’ use of Jury-X’s trade secrets has resulted in direct loss of Jury-X’s clients. Clients choosing Tandem, when they have historically used Jury-X, shows the similarities in both company’s services.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2019, Jury-X hired Kulp, a law graduate from Chapel Hill. Kulp\u00a0had access to materials that trained new employees on proprietary methodology, including the “human” part of the analysis, as well as information for more than 100 attorney-clients and other confidential information.\u00a0Jury-X has seated more than 700 juries for trials since 2013,\u00a0the complaint said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The plaintiff, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages, claims Kulp and Tandem violated Florida, Georgia and North Carolina trade secrets and computer trespass laws, as well as federal claims of computer fraud and abuse, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Wednesday,\u00a0Fox Rothschild’s Patrick M. Kane and Ashley Barton Chandler also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction<\/a>, asking the court to bar Kulp from continuing to use its trade secrets and to order her to return any of its proprietary material.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Last week, Kane told Law.com that the plaintiff believes the verified complaint “speaks for itself” but declined to comment further.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ellis & Winters attorneys, Kelly Dagger and Scottie Lee, have entered their appearances on behalf of the defendants. Neither immediately returned a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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