Joe Gibbs Racing accuses Chris Gabehart of deleting relevant texts before lawsuit

Motorsport photo In a Wednesday night legal filing, Joe Gibbs Racing says Chris Gabehart was not able to entirely comply with the expedited discovery order issued by the Western District of North Carolina due to text messages he deleted prior to the lawsuit brought against him. Additionally, JGR believes it has been able to construct a narrative that shows its former competition director ‘immediately operationalized’ trade secrets for the use at Spire Motorsports while under a restrictive covenant. Read Also: Joe Gibbs Racing seeks $8 million in damages from ex-competition director Chris Gabehart JGR files lawsuit against Chris Gabehart for 'brazen scheme to steal sensitive information' In italics below is language taken directly from the Joe Gibbs Racing filing: “That evidence reveals Gabehart did not merely take JGR’s trade secrets—he immediately operationalized them for Spire’s benefit, creating a detailed ‘Focus Plan’ referencing the very categories of misappropriated materials, replicating JGR’s proprietary analytics tools for Spire’s use, and apparently actively participating in Spire’s NASCAR race-day operations while still subject to his restrictive covenant.

“Equally troubling, Gabehart has now admitted the deletion of an unknown number of responsive text messages with Spire’s co-owner, Jeff Dickerson— communications deleted in the days immediately following his misappropriation—depriving JGR of critical evidence and warranting an adverse inference that the deleted messages would have further implicated both Defendants in the joint misappropriation of JGR’s trade secrets. In short, the cumulative record amply justifies broad injunctive relief—coupled with court-ordered monitoring—can protect JGR from the ‘threat’ of irreparable harm that continues to unfold. ” Specifically, Joe Gibbs Racing is asking the court to mandate that Spire and Gabehart detail exactly what he is doing in his role as Chief Motorsports Officer in order to prove that they are currently in compliance with a narrow temporary restraining order.

That TRO allows Gabehart to be employed by Spire, but not conduct any business in which there would be overlap in his previous duties as JGR competition director. Joe Gibbs Racing also continues to contend that Gabehart basically never quit in a way that would permit a one-week non-compete clause. For his part, Gabehart says JGR was in violation of their contract together when it stopped paying him.

JGR says it stopped paying him upon the conviction that Gabehart was a risk for sharing its protected trade secrets with Spire Motorsports. Overall, and this will be debated in front of Judge Susan C. Rodriguez on Thursday, Joe Gibbs Racing is seeking over $8 million in damages from Gabehart and Spire and is also seeking a preliminary injunction order that would stop them from working together immediately.