Court Grants Kira Systems’ Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order Against Former Employee

In a recent court decision, Kira Systems, a provider of machine learning software to the legal sector, was granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against its former employee, Samman. The court order prevents Samman from working for DeepJudge, a competitor of Kira Systems, while the order remains in effect.

The court also granted Kira Systems’ Motion for Leave of Court to Conduct Expedited Discovery and Samman’s request to conduct reciprocal discovery. Both parties are required to file a joint proposed discovery schedule by July 24, 2023, which will include the date for a hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction.

In addition, the court granted Kira Systems’ Motion to Seal Documents, resulting in the placement of Exhibits N-W under seal. The decision was made by Hon. Michael S. Nachmanoff, United States District Judge, on July 21, 2023.

The case emerged after Samman, who had resigned from Kira Systems, was onboarded as the Chief Revenue Officer of DeepJudge. Kira Systems alleged that Samman had emailed proprietary and confidential information obtained during his employment at Kira to his personal email account. This information, Kira argued, included details about its customers that would be valuable to a competitor.

The court’s decision to grant the TRO was based on the finding that Kira Systems had demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its breach of contract claim against Samman. The court also found that Kira would suffer irreparable harm if the TRO was not granted.