On June 18, 2015, Williams-Sonoma, Inc., one of the largest U.S home retailers and e-commerce companies with well-known brands such as Pottery Barn, obtained a preliminary injunction from a federal court in Tennessee against its former Vice President of Transportation, Engineering and Planning. Williams-Sonoma Direct, Inc. v. Arhaus, LLC, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79028 (W.D. Tenn. June 18, 2015). Williams-Sonoma claims that the former executive, Timothy Stover, conspired to steal the trade secrets underpinning Williams-Sonoma's international supply chain operations upon taking a new position with rival Arhaus, LLC. The court preliminarily enjoined Stover and Arhaus from using or disclosing Williams-Sonoma's trade secrets and Stover from recruiting Williams-Sonoma employees. However, in a mixed result for Williams-Sonoma, the court decided that the relevant legal factors weighed against an outright restraint on Stover's employment with Arhaus despite what the court described as a "troubling pattern of repeated instances of bad faith, both by the pilfering party and the hiring organization."
