I appeared today in the United States Bankruptcy court on a motion I filed to have a lawsuit dismissed against my client.  I represent a man who owned a corporation involved in the manufacturer of Mexican foods that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  The bankruptcy judge ordered a Trustee be appointed and liquidate the company.  Included in the sale were the recipes the Debtor used while operating the business.

The new buyers were disappointed with their sales and sued my client and their chief competitor claiming that my client must have taken these recipes they claimed were trade secrets and conspired with their competitor to unfairly compete in the sale of certain items of Mexican foods.

During that state court action I wrote a letter challenging their allegations and questioning whether they even had clear title to some of these recipes based upon the facts as I knew them.  Based upon this letter, the new buyers filed a new lawsuit against my client in the bankruptcy court seeking an order declaring the parties rights to these recipes and an injunction.

I filed a motion to dismiss this lawsuit claiming there was no issue for the court to determine and therefore no controversay.  Without a case or controversay the federal court had no jurisdiction.  I also argued that any letter I wrote arising out of the state court lawsuit was subject to an absolute litigation privilege.

The bankruptcy judge agreed with me and dismissed the lawsuit without leave to amend.

Justice prevailed.