Steel products manufacturer Nucor Corp. reported yesterday that it has settled a pending lawsuit against former employee John Bell and SeverCorr, one of the company's competitors. Nucor brought the lawsuit to a Federal Court in South Carolina to protect the company against the theft of confidential information when Bell left Nucor to join SeverCorr.
Under the terms of the settlement, the court entered an order extending the injunction it previously entered in Nucor's favor on March 14. The order prohibits Bell, and SeverCorr, from using Bell's services in the preparation or manufacturing of interstitial-free and ultra-low carbon steels. The court-ordered prohibition will remain in place until June 2009.
The Court also entered a new order which prohibits SeverCorr from producing, qualifying, promoting or marketing any ability to produce and sell interstitial-free and ultra low-carbon steels to prospective or actual customers. This order will remain in place until at least September 2009.
Dan DiMicco, the company's chairman, president and CEO, stated that as a leader in innovative steelmaking technologies, Nucor takes great pride in its advancements made for mini-mill steel production.
"These advances are the direct result of the hard work of all of our employees, and we have an obligation to our employees and shareholders to protect the intellectual property, confidential information and trade secrets associated with the advancements made through our collective efforts," DiMicco said. "That is what we did in this case; that is what we will do in the future."
