Trade secrets lawsuit dismissed against prominent company

A lawsuit brought against Venice-based drinkware manufacturer Tervis by Sarasota-based printing company Trinity Graphic has been dismissed in federal court.

"We’ve proven our good name,” says Tervis President Rogan Donelly, adding that "we’ve been dealing with this lawsuit for roughly 10 months, and we had known all along it was a frivolous lawsuit with no merit.”

Trinity had alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud, breach of contract and conspiracy. The complaint was filed in January in U.S. District Court in Tampa. It also named Louisville, Ky.-based Southern Graphics and SGS International as defendants.

The lawsuit alleged Trinity developed a printing method, and as a Tervis vendor, it printed wraps used inside Tervis tumblers for several years. Trinity alleged Tervis took that method to Southern and "transferred all of the relevant business to Southern, and promptly fired Trinity.”

In an interview with the Business Observer,  Donelly says the defense of Tervis, founded in 1946 and now one of the largest private employers in Sarasota County, was both distracting and expensive — but necessary. “The real point that I want the consumer and the business community to know is that we will vigorously defend our name if there are any more false allegations about how we do business,” he says.

The joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice dated Nov. 14 states each party will bear its own attorney’s fees and costs.

A phone call and email to reach Trinity founder and chairman Robert Smithson for a comment were not immediately returned.

In a statement, Diane Danoff, one of the attorneys representing Southern Graphics, says the firm "is pleased that the lawsuit brought by Trinity Graphic USA against Tervis Tumbler and sgsco’s subsidiaries Southern Graphics Inc. and SGS International, LLC has been permanently dismissed by the federal court. We note that Trinity has retracted all allegations of wrongdoing by sgsco and no money was paid to resolve this matter.”

Donelly, echoing Danoff, says, "Tervis is 100% done with this, and we look forward to moving on.”