Bennett v. Computer Associates International, Inc

In Bennett v. Computer Associates International, Inc., 932 S.W.2d 197, 199-200 (Tex. App.--Amarillo 1996, writ denied) the defendant company had sued the plaintiff's employer for copyright infringement, and they eventually settled. Meanwhile, the employer fired the plaintiff after he had admitted to copying the defendant's computer program code and the employer had independently confirmed the plaintiff's actions. See id. at 205. The plaintiff then asserted a claim against the defendant for tortious interference with his employment contract. See id. at 199. The Amarillo Court of Appeals held that summary judgment against the plaintiff on the issue of proximate cause was proper because the employer's testimony regarding the cause of termination (the plaintiff's copying copyrighted code) was "clear, direct, positive, and uncontradicted," and established that the employer "acted unilaterally upon information garnered through its own investigation." See id. at 205.