LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A jury awarded a family-run Louisville business $2.4 million in a lawsuit against Los Angeles based Jarrow Formulas.
Caudill Seed Company is an agricultural company that distributes seed and supplies, such as turf seed and forage seed. The company has three locations in Kentucky, according to the company website.
It started in 1947 and now employs around 160 people, according to Caudill Seed Company COO, Dan Caudill.
Caudill’s father started the company that’s now in its third generation.
“[The business] means a lot to our family,” said Corey Caudill, hydroponic and sprouting seeds manager at Caudill Seed Company.
This week, a jury of eight people unanimously agreed in an eight-year federal case that Caudill’s trade secrets were stolen willingly and maliciously. The case surrounds a former Caudill Seed County employee and a product derived from broccoli seeds.
“We later found out that he had flown out and visited with a competing company called Jarrow Formulas," Caudill said. “Jarrow Formulas enticed him away from the company. We had a variety of research and development and confidential trade secrets that disappeared, including hard drives out of a computer, lab notebooks and proprietary formulas.”
Caudill Seed was awarded $2.4 million and is expected to land around $10 million after punitive damages.
“Now the case is in the hands of the judge as to the awarded amount of punitive damages in fees and interest,” said Mark Grundy, an attorney with Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP.
The ruling on punitive damages is expected in the next month. After nearly a decade of battling over broccoli seeds with a large company, the David and Goliath story is almost over for Caudill Seed Company.
Jarrow Formulas and didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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