Popescu v. Apple Inc., 2016 WL 3578970 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016)

Dan Popescu sued Apple Inc. for damages after he was fired by his employer, Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood, LLC. Popescu alleged that Apple took affirmative steps to convince Constellium to fire him in retaliation for his resistance to Apple’s alleged anticompetitive conduct. The trial court sustained Apple’s demurrer to Popescu’s first amended complaint, but the Court of Appeal reversed, holding that Popescu was not required to allege that Apple’s interference with his at-will employment relationship with Constellium was independently wrongful. The Court further held that Popescu had properly alleged a claim against Apple for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage in that Popescu alleged independently wrongful conduct by Apple in persuading Constellium to terminate Popescu, which was connected to its effort to misappropriate Constellium’s trade secrets and to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Cartwright Act by denying Apple’s smartphone competitors an aluminum alloy resource and denying consumers “a better, more durable smartphone.”