Two lumberyards in Northwest Missouri have settled a marketing conspiracy dispute that was scheduled for a Dec. 4 jury trial, the St. Joseph News-Press reports.
Porters Building Centers of Kearney, Mo., had filed a federal lawsuit against Sprint Lumber of St. Joseph, Mo. The suit alleged marketing conspiracy on the part of four former Porters Building Center employees who had conspired with owners of Sprint Lumber to put Porters out of business.
In the lawsuit originally filed in May 2016, Porters Building Centers sought financial relief for damages related to the attempt to solicit employees and customers from Porters, the News-Press reported. The paper obtained court documents indicating that Porters Building Centers filed the suit in an effort to protect its confidential information and trade secrets. The company also alleged that Sprint Lumber violated precepts of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by destroying electronic information.
“The parties have reached a mutually agreeable resolution to their dispute,” Dane Martin, an attorney with Graves Garrett in Kansas City, told the News-Press.
Martin did not comment on terms of the settlement.