## Facts

- RLM Communications, Inc., a federal government contractor, employed Amy Tuschen for about six years and promoted her to Director of Information Assurance.
- At hiring, Tuschen signed a confidentiality agreement and a covenant not to compete restricting her, for one year after departure, from participating in a business similar to RLM’s within a defined geographic area.
- Tuschen managed a major government information-assurance contract that was nearing expiration and expected to be rebid as a follow-on contract.
- About a year before the contract’s expiration, Tuschen resigned and joined a nearby competitor, eScience and Technology Solutions, Inc.; RLM did not initially object to her departure.
- Before leaving, Tuschen copied contract-related files from her work laptop onto a CD and provided the CD to her successor at RLM.
- RLM later learned eScience intended to compete for the follow-on government contract and alleged Tuschen recruited former RLM employees to join eScience if eScience won the award.
- RLM sued Tuschen and eScience, asserting breach of the noncompete, breach of the confidentiality agreement, trade-secret misappropriation, and related tort and statutory claims.

## Issues

1. Whether the noncompete was enforceable under North Carolina law given its scope as to prohibited activities, time, and territory and its connection to a legitimate business interest.
2. Whether the evidence created a genuine dispute that Tuschen misappropriated trade secrets or breached confidentiality by taking, retaining, disclosing, or using RLM’s confidential information.
3. Whether derivative tort and statutory claims could proceed absent an enforceable noncompete or provable misappropriation/confidentiality breach.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Tuschen and eScience on all claims.
- The court held the noncompete unenforceable because it was overbroad, effectively barring Tuschen from working for any competing business regardless of job duties or relationship to RLM’s protected interests.
- The court held RLM failed to present evidence sufficient to support a finding that Tuschen retained or disclosed the copied information or that eScience received or used it.
- The court held the remaining tort and statutory claims failed because they depended on the noncompete and misappropriation theories that did not survive summary judgment.

## Legal Principles

- Under North Carolina law, a covenant not to compete is disfavored and is enforceable only if it is reasonable as to time and territory and no broader than necessary to protect a legitimate business interest.
- A noncompete that broadly prohibits employment with any competing business, without tailoring the restriction to the employee’s duties, customers, or access to protectable information, is overbroad and unenforceable.
- Trade-secret and confidentiality claims require evidence of misappropriation or breach—such as retention, disclosure, or use of protected information—rather than suspicion based on a move to a competitor or participation in competitive bidding.
- Derivative claims (including tortious interference, unfair and deceptive trade practices, and civil conspiracy) generally cannot stand without an actionable underlying wrongful act.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the employee and her new employer, holding that a sweeping noncompete was unenforceable under North Carolina law and that the employer’s trade-secret and confidentiality theories failed for lack of evidence of retention, disclosure, or use, leaving no basis for related tort and statutory claims.


RLM Commc’ns, Inc. v. Tuschen, 831 F.3d 190 (4th Cir. 2016)