Chris Botticella accepted an offer to join Hostess Inc. as vice president of bakery operations for eastern Texas in October 2009. He didn’t get around to informing his then-employer, competitor Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc., until January 2010.
Following Botticella’s disclosure of the job offer and the discovery of a series of suspicious actions he took leading up to his departure–including copying confidential documents containing trade secrets onto external storage devices–Bimbo sought an injunction barring him from beginning employment with Hostess. In February, Bimbo scored a victory when U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick issued a preliminary injunction, prohibiting Botticella from beginning work at Hostess at least until a full hearing scheduled for April.
