Cargill settles with former executive in trade-secrets case

Cargill Inc. has settled a suit with a former executive it accused of stealing trade secrets when he departed for a job at one of Cargill's top meat industry competitors, JBS S.A.

Cargill and Jason Kuan agreed that Kuan would not disclose any Cargill trade secrets and return any copies of confidential Cargill information, according to a final injunction filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Colorado.

Kuan, 20-year Cargill executive, denied his ­former employer's claims, and a federal judge last fall rejected Cargill's attempt to remove him from his job at JBS.

The judge ruled that while Kuan did once have specific knowledge of Cargill's trade secrets, his knowledge had become "generalized," Reuters reported.

Minnetonka-based Cargill sued Kuan about two months after he had joined Brazilian-owned JBS, which along with Cargill and a few other companies dominate the U.S. beef industry.