CBRE Reaches Settlement With Former Brokers Over Trade Secret Suit

After reaching a settlement with its former brokers, CBRE dismissed with prejudice Wednesday the lawsuit it had filed in July against San Diego-based brokerage Hughes Marino.

CBRE claimed in the suit that former CBRE brokers had taken files and emails related to confidential information when they left to open a Seattle office for Hughes Marino. According to court filings, Owen Rice and Gavin Curtis allegedly took more than 40,000 documents when they left CBRE, some containing confidential information.

The brokers said they only took information they needed as independent contractors to finish their remaining CBRE client transactions, according to a statement from Hughes Marino on Wednesday.

In the course of the contentious suit, a federal judge ordered the brokers to turn over devices to determine if the information taken was confidential and whether they shared it with Hughes Marino, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports.

CBRE spokesman Robert McGrath noted the brokers were required to return or delete CBRE's property and cover CBRE's costs for the suit.

“CBRE will always diligently protect our trade secrets and proprietary information,” he wrote in a statement to the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Hughes Marino CEO Jason Hughes said as part of the settlement the company did not pay any fees, costs or damages to CBRE, but Rice and Curtis agreed to give CBRE some of their future fees to offset CBRE's expenses and costs for the suit.

In a press release declaring victory, Hughes said CBRE opted to file the suit in federal court rather than following arbitration agreements with its former brokers as an attempt to give Hughes Marino a black eye in the community.

“I feel that CBRE is reeling from a fairly significant exodus of its top professionals — and rather than reflect on why all of these people are leaving, local leadership for some reason thought that they might stop the hemorrhaging by bullying recent departures — especially their former top brokers,” Hughes said in a statement.

Similar suits are in play elsewhere.

CBRE filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this month accusing another former executive of stealing trade secrets. In that suit, CBRE alleges Richard Rizika, who worked at CBRE for about 30 years, downloaded about half a million documents containing proprietary information and trade secrets to start a competing firm.