Judge Brian Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana has dismissed with prejudice Brown & Root Industrial Services’ claim for unjust enrichment against CSRS subsidiary Fides Consulting.
The decision, which was delivered Aug. 8, is the latest development in a complex legal battle between the two firms.
In late 2020, BRIS executives Andy Farris and Kevin Steed left the company to run the newly formed Fides Consulting. BRIS went on to file a pair of lawsuits—one in state court and one in federal court—hinging upon allegations that Farris and Steed stole trade secrets from BRIS and violated contracts by recruiting other BRIS employees to join Fides Consulting.
The federal case in question names a number of mid-level engineers who followed Farris and Steed to Fides Consulting and allegedly downloaded proprietary documents to bring with them.
While the unjust enrichment claim has been thrown out, BRIS’ additional claims against Fides Consulting remain pending, documents show. Unjust enrichment is a legal doctrine that stipulates that a party that has unjustly benefited at another party’s expense must pay that party back to the degree of the benefit.
BRIS is owned by prominent Baton Rouge businessman Jim Bernhard’s private equity firm Bernhard Capital Partners. CSRS President Tim Barfield was a longtime executive at Bernhard’s former company, The Shaw Group.
Fides Consulting was formed by CSRS specifically to work with Grön Fuels, a subsidiary of Fidelis New Energy LLC, on the development of a $9.2 billion renewable fuels facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. Fidelis New Energy President and COO Bengt Jarlsjo said in April that the massive clean energy complex is expected to be operational in 2027.
