The Gillette Company v. Provost, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-071-17)
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. SUPERIOR COURT. 1584CV00149-BLS2 ____________________ THE GILLETTE COMPANY v. CRAIG PROVOST, JOHN GRIFFIN, WILLIAM TUCKER, DOUGLAS KOHRING, and SHAVELOGIC, INC. ____________________ MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO REPORT SUMMARY JUDGMENT DECISION PURSUANT TO RULE 64 In prior rulings, the Court dismissed or granted partial summary judgment against all of The Gillette Company’s claims. Most recently the Court decided that the remaining Defendants are entitled to summary judgment on Gillette’s claims that four of its former employees helped ShaveLogic, Inc., develop a new disposable cartridge shaving razor using Gillette’s confidential information. The only remaining claims to be decided are ShaveLogic’s counterclaims that Gillette intentionally interfered with prospective business relations and violated c. 93A, by threatening to bring and then filing baseless legal claims in an attempt to keep ShaveLogic from entering the market for so-called wet-shaving products. When the Court granted partial summary judgment in Defendants’ favor on Gillette’s “confidential information” claims, it did not enter separate and final judgment under Mass. R. Civ. P. 54(b) because doing so would be inconsistent with the appellate courts’ strong policy against piecemeal appeals.1 Gillette therefore has no right to appeal the Court’s interlocutory decision granting partial summary judgment in Defendants’ favor on what had been Gillette’s remaining claims.2 Gillette has now asked the Court to report its summary judgment decision for interlocutory appellate review under Mass. R. Civ. P. 64(a). The Court will DENY this request for the reasons discussed below. 1 See Long v. Wichett, 50 Mass. App. Ct. 380, 388-404 (2000) (separate judgment held inconsistent with “bedrock policy against premature and piecemeal appeals”). 2 See Morrissey v. New England Deaconess Ass’n—Abundant Life Communities, Inc., 458 Mass. 580, 594 (2010) (in absence of separate and final judgment, “no appeal can be taken from a trial judge’s partial ‘judgment’ on a claim prior to entry of a final judgment disposing of all claims against all parties to the action”). – 2 – Rule 64(a) authorizes a trial court to report an interlocutory order to the appeals court for immediate review. However, “[s]uch a report should be reserved for novel and difficult issues, the appellate decision of which may expedite resolution of the case.” Morrison v. Lennett, 415 Mass. 857, 859 (1993). “Interlocutory matters should be reported only where it appears that they present serious questions likely to be material in the ultimate decision, and that subsequent proceedings in the trial court will be substantially facilitated by so doing.” Globe Newspaper Co. v. Massachusetts Bay Transp. Auth. Ret. Bd., 412 Mass. 770, 772 (1992), quoting John Gilbert Jr. Co. v. C.M. Fauci Co., 309 Mass. 271, 273 (1941). Gillette argues that the summary judgment decision in this case turned […]