Bingham Hill is currently not making cheese. For Inquiries, please contact: Tom Johnson, Cheesemaker/Owner Cell (970) 215-3459 e-mail: info@binghamhill.com

June 14, 2007

Fort Collins, Colo. - Renowned artisan cheesemaker Bingham Hill Cheese Company, in a holding pattern since February 2006, received a favorable verdict today in its trade secret theft lawsuit against cross-town competitor Morning Fresh Cheese Company. The decision could clear the way for a revival of one of America’s most celebrated artisan cheese brands.

A judge in Larimer County District Court announced his verdict today in the wake of a three-day bench trial that began March 26. Judge John David Sullivan found in favor of Bingham Hill on all of its claims cited in the original complaint, filed March 20, 2006.

In his verdict, Sullivan granted Bingham Hill a permanent injunction preventing the defendants from making blue, washed-rind and brie-like cheeses for three years, anywhere.  Defendants are not allowed to make those cheeses in Colorado for eight years. Sullivan also awarded Bingham Hill damages in the amount of $400,000, and exemplary damages in the amount of $150,000, because “the actions of Defendants Morning Fresh, Robert Graves and Brad LaRocco were willful, deliberate, wanton, without regard to the rights of Bingham Hill.”  The judge also awarded attorney’s fees due to the willful and malicious actions of these three defendants.

The lawsuit pitted Bingham Hill against Morning Fresh Cheese Company, its owner, Rob Graves, and cheesemaker Brad LaRocco, who Bingham Hill accused of misappropriating the company’s cheese recipes, customer lists, supplier lists, and other confidential information. Also named in the suit was Morning Fresh Dairy manager Matt Lucas.

Judge Sullivan found that the plaintiff’s testimony was most credible, including that of master cheesemaker Sid Cook, of Carr Valley Cheese in Wisconsin, businessman Dan Carter of the Dairy Business Innovation Center, also in Wisconsin, Kurt Dammeier of Beecher’s Fine Cheese in Pike Place Market in Seattle, and three former Bingham Hill managers. 

Company founders Tom and Kristi Johnson say the verdict allows them to finally explore options for either resuming business or licensing or selling the Bingham Hill brand, its products and recipes. The Johnsons had been in negotiations with several companies for the sale of the brand when they discovered Morning Fresh’s illegal activity. Morning Fresh ignored Bingham Hill’s demands that they cease and desist, leaving litigation Bingham Hill’s only remedy. Litigation made sale or licensing of the company’s intellectual property, including brands and recipes, an impossibility.

Kristi Johnson has since resumed practice of intellectual property law with the national law firm Dickinson Wright, PLLC, headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  Prior to founding Bingham Hill Cheese Company, Kristi practiced intellectual property law for a decade, principally in Fort Collins.  She now represents food clients, such as the Kellogg Company, and several university clients. 

At the heart of the case was a collection of cheeses made by Morning Fresh Cheese Company that bore a striking resemblance to those made by Bingham Hill. Morning Fresh’s original product line, released the week after Bingham Hill ceased distribution of its cheeses, included three products modeled after Bingham Hill’s award-winning cheeses: a natural rind blue cheese, a bloomy rind cheese, and a washed rind cheese. Morning Fresh used Bingham Hill’s trademark “Harvest Moon” for its washed rind cheese. The cheeses at both companies were made by cheesemaker Brad LaRocco.

As a condition of employment at Bingham Hill, LaRocco signed a non-compete/trade secret/confidentiality agreement. The agreement prohibited disclosure of Bingham Hill’s confidential information and, for varying lengths of time, placed limits on the types of cheeses LaRocco was permitted to make for other cheesemakers. According to the ruling, LaRocco violated all major terms of the agreement. Bingham Hill fired LaRocco for cause in September 2005.

The court found that Morning Fresh’s cheeses were largely based on the confidential information LaRocco was exposed to while working for Bingham Hill Cheese Company. Out of hundreds of cheese types on the market, Morning Fresh initially chose to make only those cheese types produced at Bingham Hill. Within those cheese types, Morning Fresh used the exact cheese cultures and blends of cultures used by Bingham Hill.

Founded in 1999 by Tom and Kristi Johnson, Fort Collins-based Bingham Hill Cheese Company is one of America’s most respected and decorated artisan cheesemakers. The company won more than 45 national and international awards in its six years of operations. Bingham Hill’s flagship product, a natural rind blue cheese called Rustic Blue, won numerous awards, including Best Blue Cheese and Best American Cheese at the London, England-based World Cheese Awards. The cheese was on numerous Top 10 lists of the best American cheeses.

Following the loss of a major national customer, Bingham Hill temporarily ceased operations in February 2006. Numerous suitors, ranging from local investment groups to large Wisconsin cheese companies, expressed interest in the Bingham Hill brand. While in the final stages of negotiating the sale of the company’s assets, the Johnsons discovered that Bingham Hill’s former cheesemaker, Brad LaRocco, had accepted employment with nearby Morning Fresh Dairy and had set about using Bingham Hill’s recipes to establish a new line of cheeses. The uncertainty caused by the defendants’ actions nullified Bingham Hill’s deal.

The Johnsons didn’t learn until trial that LaRocco and Morning Fresh had conspired as early as summer 2005 to gut the company’s intellectual property. Evidence presented by the defense’s own expert witness indicated that LaRocco and Morning Fresh were producing test batches, using Bingham Hill’s cheese cultures, mold strains and other raw materials, in July, 2005 -- while LaRocco was still employed by Bingham Hill.

Members of the close-knit American cheese making community have closely watched Bingham Hill’s case. The court’s decision is expected to receive national attention and could set a precedent for the enforceability of confidentiality and non-compete agreements in the cheesemaking and food production industry.

Bingham Hill Cheese Company exploded into the forefront of American artisan cheese scene, winning best blue cheese at the 2000 American Cheese Society annual competition in Napa Valley, California. Known as product innovators, Bingham Hill introduced 20 original products in six years. The company’s products were featured in prestigious national magazines an newspapers, including Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Sunset, Wine Spectator, Food & Wine, the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. The Company was also featured on the Food Network and National Public Radio’s The Splendid Table.

For more information, contact:

Tom and Kristi Johnson, owners
Bingham Hill Cheese Company       
(970) 215-3459 (cell)
info@binghamhill.com