2007AP2887 InfoCorp, LLC, v. Hunt

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Employment
Duty of loyalty

A key employee who is not an office or director may owe a duty of loyalty actionable in tort.
"Burbank Grease and previous cases effectively recognize that there may be 'key employees' whose job responsibilities are of such a nature, in the context of the employer's business, that they may be used to harm the employer. If such employees do harm to their employer during the course of their employment, the employer has a common law remedy for breach of the employee's duty of loyalty. Whether an employee has such responsibilities as an agent of the employer to create a duty of loyalty must of necessity be determined in the context of the employer's business and the specific role the employee plays in that business. As we have seen, case law demonstrates that for an employee who is not an officer or director, the status of 'key employee' is determined by the specific job responsibilities and the harm to the employer resulting from misuse of those responsibilities."
Reversed and Remanded.
Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2007AP2887 InfoCorp, LLC, v. Hunt

Dist. I, Milwaukee County, Franke, J., Kessler, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Banaszak, Christopher, Milwaukee; Rawsthorne, Christopher W., Milwaukee; Driscoll, Robert S., Milwaukee; For Respondent: Piefer, Sally A., Waukesha