Cuidado Casero Home Health of El Paso v. Ayuda Home Health Care Services LLC

When making a claim of lost profits the plaintiff must show that the lost profits are non-speculative and corroborated.

Opinion (Rivera): Cuidado Casero Home Health of El Paso ("Cuidado") appealed the summary judgments on no-evidence granted by the lower court on their claim against Ayuda Home Helath Care Services, LLC ("Ayuda") and the individual employees that left Cuidado for misappropriating trade secrets. The claim arose after a number of employees left Cuidado to start Ayuda. When those employees left Cuidado they took a number of clients with them to Ayuda. The appeals court stated that to demonstrate a claim of misappropriation of trade secret the plaintiff must show: (1) the existence and ownership of a trade secret; (2) the breach of a confidential relationship or improper discovery of a trade secret; (3) use or disclosure of the trade secret; and (4) damages to the owner. Ayuda challenged the damages element, and Cuidado did not meet its burden of presenting "more than a scintilla of evidence" of damages sustained. The record must show how the lost profits were calculated. In each suit Cuidado claimed a specific sum of money that they had lost in profits but did not include how they came to that sum of money or specify whether they were including losses from clients leaving for Ayuda. Because Cuidado did not show specifically how the amount of lost profits was calculated, the Court of Appeals AFFIRMED the lower court's judgment.