TCT appeals federal judge decision, files district case against Campbells

WORLAND — In response to a U.S. District Court judge ruling against Tri County Telephone on the breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets, the Big Horn Basin telecommunications company has filed a notice of appeal, and filed a similar case in Fifth Judicial District Court in Thermopolis.

According to the U.S. District Court document, the notice of appeal was filed July 2 and states, “Notice is hereby given that Plaintiff Tri County Telephone Association, Inc. in the above named case hereby appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from the Order on Cross Motions for Summary Judgment entered on June 4, 2019.

According to the court documents TCT filed suit against former board member Joe Campbell under several theories of liability: “The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), breach of contract, conversion, intentional or tortious interference with a contract and business expectancy, and intentional or tortious interference with a prospective economic advantage and business expectancy.”

In describing the CFAA claims, TCT notes that Mr. Campbell “retained a TCT computer with alleged confidential information after he was no longer a member of the board of directors. When he filed the class action in Park County, he attached the alleged confidential information to various court filings and published the information on a website.”

According to a “Writ of Replevin” filed in U.S. District Court, Judge Nancy Freudenthal, the court ordered Campbell to return the computer to TCT “no later than Jan. 19, 2018. The order stated, “Once [TCT] has had the ability to back-up the information on the computer, the Court can hear further arguments of whether the computer should be returned to Campbell if he is willing to voluntarily delete [TCT’s] files from the laptop.

With the laptop ordered to be returned, and based on other conclusions, Freudenthal dismissed TCT’s federal claims and CFAA claims with prejudice, which means TCT cannot bring suit again on those issues.

The judge ordered on June 4 that TCT’s state-based claims for “breach of contract, conversion, intentional or tortious interference with a contract and business expectancy, and intentional or tortious interference with a prospective economic advantage and business expectancy,” dismissed without prejudice, which has allowed TCT to file the claims in State district court, which it did on June 26, 2019, in Fifth Judicial District Court in Thermopolis.

TCT CEO Chris Davidson said that Freundenthal basically dismissed the federal damages (cost of fixing and securing the network from the suit, which Davidson said they estimated at in excess of $200,000.

What the telecommunications company is seeking, in what is now the district court case, financial damages for loss of customers, loss of a data center and banking damages, estimated at over $30 million, Davidson said.

According to the district court claim, TCT alleges that in the civil action lawsuit filed by Campbell and his wife Barbara Campbell, Campbell “published the most protected and confidential information of the BHT Entities [the company that purchased TCT] — the Union Bank information — and further publicized that information on his litigation-specific website.”

According to the claim, “As the direct result of Campbell’s improper communications, publications and the sharing of non-public information, TCT has been irreparably, materially and substantially harmed.”

TCT also claims “tortious interference with a prospective economic advantage” specifically with the Cody Data Center.

According to the complaint, “TCT had a business expectancy and prospective economic advantage with a developer to undertake the construction and build out of a lucrative data center in Cody, and also separately had engaged in advanced negotiations with another company to be the data center’s anchor tenant.

“While in advanced negotiations with both the developer and the anchor tenant, Campbell intentionally acted to prevent any such agreement from being entered into, souring the prospective economic advantage and disrupting the business expectancy.”

Davidson said loss of customers due to the lawsuit and due to the release of trade secrets and confidential information is “harder to pinpoint, it’s more based on trends.”

He said that while the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages TCT had to detail claims for the federal case, which is where the estimates come from.

The Campbells have filed a class action lawsuit against Tri-County Telephone and TCT claiming fraud and violation of Wyoming statute concerning the sale or disposition of assets of a cooperative utility. It also alleges civil conspiracy to defraud and breach of fiduciary duties.

According to the complaint, TCT was sold at the end of 2014 for $51 million, less $12 million to retire debt, less $10 million held back for “unforeseen liabilities” leaving $29 million paid to the “owners” or Tri-County Telephone cooperative members. The suit alleges that TCT held hard assets of over $90 million.