UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ CAUDILL SEED & WAREHOUSE CO., INC., │ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ > No. 21-5345 │ v. │ │ JARROW FORMULAS, INC., │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky at Louisville. No. 3:13-cv-00082—Charles R. Simpson, III, District Judge.

Argued: April 28, 2022

Decided and Filed: November 10, 2022

Before: SUHRHEINRICH, MOORE, and CLAY, Circuit Judges.

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COUNSEL ARGUED: David R. Carpenter, SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, Los Angeles, California, for Appellant. Benjamin J. Lewis, DENTONS BINGHAM GREENEBAUM LLP, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: David R. Carpenter, SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, Los Angeles, California, Christopher A. Eiswerth, Daniel J. Hay, SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Benjamin J. Lewis, J. Mark Grundy, Jared A. Cox, Amanda D. Reed, Kyle W. Miller, DENTONS BINGHAM GREENEBAUM LLP, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellee.

The court delivered a PER CURIAM opinion. MOORE, J. (pp. 32–34), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. No. 21-5345 Caudill Seed & Warehouse Co. v. Jarrow Formulas, Inc. Page 2

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OPINION _________________

PER CURIAM. Caudill Seed & Warehouse Co. manufactures an important ingredient in certain nutritional supplements. Jarrow Formulas, Inc., a customer of Caudill’s, wanted to get into this manufacturing business. To do this, Jarrow decided to lure away Caudill’s Director of Research, Kean Ashurst, and learn Caudill’s manufacturing process from him. Caudill, understandably displeased, proceeded to federal court. Eight years later, a jury awarded Caudill approximately $7,000,000 in damages under the Kentucky Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“KUTSA”). Jarrow appeals the district court’s denial of its motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new trial. We AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND A. Facts

Caudill is a Kentucky business that manufactures and sells a wide range of agricultural products including seeds, fertilizers, and sprouts. One Caudill subsidiary, C.S. Health, develops nutritional supplements. And one such supplement, made using broccoli-seed extract, attempts to harness a substance called glucoraphanin, which some believe to have positive health effects when consumed. Specifically, the glucoraphanin found in broccoli seeds reacts with myrosinase, an enzyme also found in broccoli seeds, to create in the digestive tract a supposedly beneficial compound called sulforaphane.

Caudill has developed a nutritional supplement ingredient containing high concentrations of glucoraphanin, which it sells to producers under the trade name BroccoRaphanin. Caudill also manufactures and distributes glucoraphanin capsules for individual use called Vitalica and Vitalica Plus. Vitalica and Vitalica Plus are “activated” products: they add myrosinase into the production formula to increase the amount of sulforaphane produced in the small intestine.

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