Michael A.
Foley

Position: Partner
Office: New Orleans

Michael Foley is a partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group and a member of the trade secrets team, where he helps clients across industries prevent and resolve disputes.

Michael is an experienced lawyer who provides broad-ranging employment law counsel and litigation services, with a focus on issues involving the use and protection of trade secrets and other proprietary information. He has represented private employers from across the industry spectrum, including oil and gas, advanced manufacturing, technology, insurance, hospitality, and healthcare, among other sectors.

Concerning the alleged theft or misuse of trade secrets or other proprietary information, Michael understands that time is of the essence. He has a strong motion practice and significant experience quickly securing and defending preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders, helping clients staunch the loss of — or preserve their rights to use — key data, customer lists, and other trade secrets. These rapid court actions also place clients’ competitors and others who might attempt to benefit from or prevent the proper use of such information on notice for potential exposure to litigation and penalties.

Whether helping midsize business owners develop effective hiring, retention, and other employment policies or managing cost-effective e-discovery involving hundreds of thousands of documents and tens of thousands of emails, Michael brings his full care and attention to every step of the process.

Noteworthy

Experience

Axis Teknologies, LLC v. Fibrebond Corporation, et. al. US District Court for the District of Arizona Case No. 2:18-cv-03150. Axis filed suit against our client, Fibrebond and its newly hired employee, Kevin Neff. Neff was a former Director at Axis. Axis alleged that Fibrebond and Neff conspired to breach Neff’s non-compete agreement, misappropriate Axis’s confidential information and trade secrets, breach Neff’s fiduciary duty, tortiously interfere with contracts, and engage in unlawful competition. The Plaintiff was seeking damages in excess of $30 million. Axis sought a temporary restraining order to prevent competition, which we opposed, and was denied. We engaged in discovery for four months and were able to show through computer forensics that there was no evidence Fibrebond possessed or used any Axis information or otherwise engaged in unfair competition. Ultimately, the case was settled with Defendants paying no money and with no restrictions on competition for Fibrebond or Neff.
Orion Marine Construction, Inc. vs. Mark Coyle and Crosby Dredging, LLC. Client’s former vice president of business development of 18 years resigned and began working for a competitor. We investigated the former VP’s actions prior to resignation and learned that he misappropriated a substantial amount of Orion’s trade secrets and proprietary information. Within days we filed a lawsuit and obtained an injunction prohibiting the defendants from using that information and an order requiring that the VP’s personal and business devices and accounts needed to be turned over for a forensic examination. The forensic investigation uncovered an unprecedented misappropriation of Orion information and that the defendants failed to turn over all devices and accounts ordered by the court. These findings led to an emergency motion for contempt and to modify the existing preliminary injunction. Those motions were handled during a three-day evidentiary hearing and the court found the VP in contempt and modified the injunction to prohibit the VP and the competitor employer from engaging in the marine construction industry. Defendants unsuccessfully challenged the modified injunction on several occasions including another three-day evidentiary hearing. The matter was settled prior to trial with competitor paying a multimillion-dollar settlement and consent permanent injunctions being entered.