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VERDICTS & SETTLEMENTS DECEMBER 9, 2019 ¦ 29

Representing the defense were first place. Karen Harper admit-
Joshua Solomon, Barry Pollack ted that she had full knowledge
and Phil Rakhunov of Boston- of the non-compete agreements
based Pollack Solomon Duffy, and that the two employees had
and James Craven from Con- The crux of the case—which full non-disclosure agreements.
necticut-based Wiggin and Dana. has been litigated for more They hired the two men despite

Craven referred all comment to than seven years—involved the non-compete agreement and
Solomon, Pollack and Rakhunov. former LBI employees Jared they had those two employees
None of the three Boston attor- move seamlessly into complet-
neys responded to a request for Sparks and Jay Williams, ing the work that CRA had taken

comment Tuesday, whom the government from LBI.”
The crux of the case—which The U.S. Navy, Robertson said,
accused of stealing trade
has been litigated for more than secrets from LBI to the was looking into the development
seven years—involved former benefit of Charles River of underwater drones “and had
LBI employees Jared Sparks and Analytics. made that a top Navy priority. The

Jay Williams, whom the govern- Navy devoted $70 million into
ment accused of stealing trade the invention, design and testing
secrets from LBI to the benefit of of the drones.” Charles River An-
Charles River Analytics. In July alytics, Robertson said, was to do
2018, a jury agreed with prosecutors that Sparks the computer analytics for the project while LBI was
uploaded thousands of LBI’s files to his personal to design, build and test the drones.
account with Dropbox, a cloud-based file-storage “CRA became a competitor of LBI on this proj-
application. The government alleged that soon after ect and ended up taking its work. They got a lot
joining Charles River Analytics, Sparks uploaded of money from the Navy,” Robertson said. Charles
the material including accounting and engineering River Analytics benefited to the tune of “millions of
files as well as photographs related to designs and dollars,” Robertson said.
renderings used to fabricate and manufacture LBI’s Robertson said, “There was deceit by CRA. They
unmanned vehicle and buoys. The jury cleared co- were pretending to be a partner, when, in fact, they
defendant Williams. were a competitor of LBI’s.”
Charles River Analytics, the six-person jury Robertson said he will be filing a prejudgment
found, engaged in tortious interference with regard remedy application seeking about $5 million in
to the employ of Sparks and Williams and violated punitive damages before Judge Kim Knox.
the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. Assisting Robertson were his colleagues Sarah
In reaching its Nov. 8 verdict after 2 1/2 days of delib- Healey and Doug Balko.
erations, the jury found on all counts and awarded both ¦

compensatory and punitive damages to LBI. Charles Robert Storace covers legal trends, lawsuits and
River Analytics is expected to appeal the verdict. analysis for the Connecticut Law Tribune. Follow
Robertson said the jury got it right and that “CRA him on Twitter @RobertSCTLaw or reach him at
Visitshould not have hired Sparks and Williams in the 203-437-5950.
Visit ctlawtribune.com
ctlawtribuneP.HcOoNEm: 860-757-6659

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