Shearman & Sterling secured a substantial jury verdict for client SS&C Technologies in a lawsuit against Clearwater Analytics alleging the misappropriation of trade secrets.

Clearwater recruited an SS&C sales executive, who brought stolen, confidential information with him to Clearwater. Within two months after the employee joined Clearwater, SS&C discovered the misappropriation and brought a lawsuit. A temporary restraining order was issued within days. Clearwater argued at trial that it did not use or profit from the stolen information, and that it immediately purged the information from its computer systems once it was alerted to the theft by SS&C’s lawsuit. SS&C argued that the theft was deliberate and planned, and that Clearwater should pay a “reasonable royalty” based on the value of the information at the time it was stolen.

The case was tried to a jury in Cook County, Illinois (Chicago). On April 25, after a two-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in SS&C’s favor for $44 million in damages, including $16 million in compensatory damages and $28 million in punitive damages for conduct that was “willful and malicious.”

The Team