Charter Sues Second Executive to Stop Leak of State Broadband Trade Secrets

Charter Communications seeks a temporary and preliminary injunction to prevent Bridger Mahlum, its former director-state government affairs, from continuing to breach his noncompete agreement and from misappropriating Charter’s trade secrets involving state broadband funding, said its complaint Friday (docket 3:23-cv-01106) in U.S. District Court for Connecticut in New Haven.

Mahlum, in the role he had until July, was responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing government affairs strategies and activities that advanced Charter’s participation in state broadband grant programs, said the complaint. Charter granted Mahlum several lucrative stock awards in exchange for his promise not to directly compete with Charter for six months after leaving the company, it said. He specifically agreed not to provide the similar services he provided to Charter to any “competitive business” in geographic locations where Charter conducts business, it said.

Despite those “clear prohibitions,” Mahlum nevertheless went to work Aug. 1 as general manager for Montana’s BroadbandMT, a “direct competitor,” said the complaint. BroadbandMT provides competitive digital voice, video, wireless, internet and other telecommunications services to residential and business entities “in areas where Charter conducts business in Montana,” it said.

Charter’s complaint against Mahlum mirrors a nearly identical action it brought June 15 against Bobbie Gilbert, another former director-state government affairs, after she left Charter and immediately went to work as vice president-public affairs for Open Fiber USA, a direct competitor (see 2306160040). Charter alleged Gilbert, like Mahlum, was privy to “a host” of proprietary information about pricing strategies and negotiating tactics “that formed the basis of Charter’s commercial strategy in rural broadband deployments, and it sued to prevent her from sharing that information with her new company. Charter dismissed its claims against Gilbert without prejudice about a month later (see 2307130030).

Various federal, state and local laws and initiatives, including NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, give broadband companies like Charter and BroadbandMT “the opportunity to bid for subsidies,” said the complaint. Those subsidies “help offset capital construction costs to rural areas where federal, state, and local grants may be necessary to make it financially possible to provide internet service,” it said.

Mahlum became the “point person” responsible for Charter’s BEAD applications, “which he helped prepare by using Charter’s confidential information, trade secrets, and other proprietary business strategies relevant to Charter’s approach to competitive bidding,” said the complaint. BroadbandMT and its members directly compete with Charter “in bidding and applying for these funds, subsidies, grants, franchises, and other benefits that allow internet companies to expand their footprint, grow their customer base, and increase their revenues,” it said.

By accepting employment with BroadbandMT, Mahlum “flagrantly breached” his stock award agreements and violated the Connecticut Uniform Trade Secret Act by misappropriating Charter’s Connecticut-based trade secrets,” said the complaint. Mahlum “is leveraging his experience at Charter,” plus the investments Charter made into Mahlum, “to unfairly compete with Charter and damage its reputation, goodwill, and business and governmental relationships,” it said.

Charter is entitled to temporary and preliminary injunctive relief “to prevent further unfair competition by Mahlum and irreparable harm to Charter pending the outcome of the parties’ pending arbitration,” said the complaint. Charter filed its substantive claims for monetary and declaratory relief “contemporaneously” with the complaint, it said. Efforts to reach Mahlum or his representatives for comment Monday were unsuccessful.