Majority of FIB Lawsuit Against Former Employees Dismissed

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Freudenthal recently issued a partial summary judgment in a civil lawsuit that was filed in April by First Interstate Bank against seven former employees. According to a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court of Wyoming on April 12, on March 22, 2021 the seven defendants announced their intention to end their employment with FIB and work for a competitor, Glacier Bank, which operates under First Bank of Wyoming in Sheridan. The lawsuit filed by FIB alleges the former employees took confidential bank information before leaving to use in competition with FIB and “have profited and will continue to profit from the misappropriation of FIB’s proprietary and confidential customer information.”  


Judge Freudanthal granted the motions for summary judgment for four of the seven defendants named in the lawsuit and dismissed all claims for relief against John Dick, Kimberlee Newman, Donovan McComb and Myriah Phelps. The motions for summary judgment from defendants David Hubert, Jay Martinson and Nicole Christensen were granted in part and denied in part and all claims for relief were dismissed except the third claim made by FIB – breach of duty of loyalty. The conclusion of Judge Freudenthal’s ruling states that the Court finds and concludes that there are no triable issues of fact precluding summary judgment as to any claims pled by the plaintiffs against the defendants with the exception of the third claim of relief, breach of duty of loyalty against defendants Hubert, Christensen and Martinson. That portion of the lawsuit will be scheduled for trial at a later date.