Overview
- On Thursday JGR asked the court to strike paragraph 129 of its second amended complaint and conceded it lacks non‑privileged evidence for the allegation that Gabehart was running Spire’s competition strategy.
- The withdrawn claim accused Spire employees of hiding Gabehart’s role and of directing him to lead competition strategy in violation of his non‑compete; JGR says it cannot produce non‑privileged support for that allegation.
- Gabehart’s lawyers counter that a JGR forensic examiner disclosed dozens of his privileged attorney‑client communications during device review, a breach that they say raised costs and complicated discovery.
- Separate unresolved claims remain in the consolidated case, including JGR’s trade‑secret and non‑compete allegations that Gabehart copied files and photographed data, and Gabehart and Spire’s counterclaims over unpaid wages, retaliation, and an alleged deal over engineer Robert “Cheddar” Smith.
- Both sides are moving through contested discovery and pretrial motions with a nine‑day jury trial scheduled to begin February 1, 2027, a date set to resolve the remaining factual disputes and damages claims.