Judge upholds countersuits in Joe Gibbs Racing trade secrets case

U.S. District Judge Susan Rodriguez upheld countersuits from Spire Motorsports and former Joe Gibbs Racing executive Christopher Gabehart, rejecting Gibbs Racing's bid to dismiss them. Gibbs Racing had sued Gabehart in February over allegations he photographed confidential racing data into a folder labeled 'Spire' before taking a job as Spire's chief motorsports officer, later adding Spire as a defendant for allegedly inducing the contract breach.

Rodriguez allowed Gabehart's claims for breach of contract and wage violations to proceed while dismissing his computer-fraud and trade-practices claims, telling his attorney 'I'm just not sure you've got anything plausible here.' Spire's countersuit, alleging Gibbs Racing violated an informal employee-poaching agreement tied to releasing crew chief Robert 'Cheddar' Smith from a noncompete, also survives, with the judge noting noncompetes are 'not waived lightly.'

Gabehart has admitted taking the photos but says it was to document his 13 years at the company, not to benefit Spire, which itself denies wanting or receiving any of Gibbs Racing's data. Gibbs Racing previously won an injunction barring Gabehart from using its confidential information but failed to force him out of his new job.

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