The Joe Gibbs Racing v Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports lawsuit heard arguments over expedited discovery motions in court docket on Monday morning earlier than Decide Susan Courtwright Rodriguez.
The docket additionally known as for arguments over a preliminary injunction movement however all events in court docket agreed that the invention movement’s significance was of better precedence and the outcomes may have an effect on the course of future hearings so it was tabled to the tip of the month as an alternative.
Finally, after listening to the arguments from Cary B. Davis (Gabehart), Sarah F. Hutchins (Gibbs) and John S. Gibbs III (Spire), Decide Rodriguez allowed for each a narrowly tailor-made expedited discovery on Gabehart and a narrowly tailor-made reciprocal discovery on JGR.
To grasp what this implies, Decide Rodriguez tackled every of the seven requests made by Joe Gibbs Racing’s attorneys and detailed what she would permit to be sought over the following week.
Italicized beneath is from the JGR movement and in parenthesis beneath that’s from the pending Decide Rodriguez order)
- All Communications between Defendant Spire and Defendant Gabehart Referring to Gabehart’s potential employment at Spire.
(Decide will permit discovery on this level on Gabehart’s units however not Spire)
- All Paperwork and Communications Referring to any potential or precise settlement by Defendant Spire or its house owners to indemnify Defendant Gabehart for any breach of his JGR employment settlement or for some other declare that may very well be asserted by JGR towards Defendant Gabehart, together with for utilizing, retaining, transferring, or copying any of JGR’s Confidential Data and Commerce Secrets and techniques.
(Decide will permit discovery on this level on Gabehart’s units however not Spire)
- All Communications from Defendant Gabehart and some other JGR staff Referring to employment at Defendant Spire.
(This has been faraway from the order as there isn’t any foundation for expedited discovery)
- All Communications between Defendant Spire, Defendant Gabehart, Dan Towriss, and/or Jeff Dickerson Referring to JGR’s race setups, technique, operations, sponsorships, or staff.
(Decide Rodriguez felt ‘technique,’ and ‘operations,’ was too broad so Hutchins countered with ‘analytics,’ which was agreeable and the opposite phrases will likely be discoverable too)
- All Communications between Defendant Spire, Defendant Gabehart, Dan Towriss, and/or Jeff Dickerson Referring to the recruitment, hiring, potential employment and employment of Defendant Gabehart.
(Decide will permit discovery on this level on Gabehart’s units however not Spire)
- All Paperwork and Communications Referring to Defendant Gabehart’s function as Chief Motorsports Officer at Defendant Spire.
(Decide will permit discovery on this level on Gabehart’s units however not Spire)
- All Paperwork created or generated by Defendant Gabehart from October 1, 2025 till February 17, 2026 Referring to his potential function as Chief Motorsports Officer at Defendant Spire.
(The decide permitted expedited discovery on Gabehart from this matter however not Spire, pending an finish date agreed upon by each events earlier than such communication grew to become privileged by represented attorneys.)
Decide Rodriguez may also permit narrowly tailor-made reciprocal discovery from Gabehart on Joe Gibbs Racing over any non-privileged communications between firm executives over how they interpreted internally something concerning the separation settlement.
This particularly regards Part 6, Paragraph 2 of the employment settlement between Gabehart and JGR that acknowledged:
“However any opposite provision herein, the Noncompete Interval will likely be lowered to 1 (1) week and Firm shall pay Worker $100,000 (in alternate for an entire mutual launch and internet of all required withholding and deductions) if, at any time after September 1, 2025, and earlier than June 1, 2026: (i) Worker in good religion notifies Firm in writing of particular job duties or obligations assigned to Worker which can be inconsistent with Worker’s affordable expectations or the job description supplied by Firm previous to the Begin Date; (ii) Worker supplies Firm at the least sixty ( 60) days to resolve such inconsistencies to Worker’s affordable satisfaction and Firm fails to take action; and (iii) Worker supplies Firm sixty ( 60) days prior written discover of termination with out trigger resulting from such unresolved inconsistencies.”
In different phrases, Gabehart needs to know if Joe Gibbs Racing internally understood that he had notified them of his intent to go away and in the event that they responded in a manner that might safe his one-week non-compete.
JGR needs to carry Gabehart away from Spire for the remaining 18 months of their settlement.
Decide Rodriguez has requested the attorneys representing Gabehart and Joe Gibbs Racing to satisfy and confer to iron out the main points of how that court docket order ought to learn by the tip of day on Tuesday.
From there, discovery will happen by way of the weekend. Spire Motorsports was excluded from the expedited discovery orders as they have a tendency to fall extra underneath normal Rule 26(f) court docket procedures. The chance that Gabehart may very well be inflicting imminent hurt to Joe Gibbs Racing warranted at the least a point of instant discovery.
Proof of JGR knowledge being utilized by Spire?
Throughout her argument, Joe Gibbs Racing legal professional Sarah Hutchins additionally informed Decide Rodriguez that she needed to hunt a third-party subpoena from Justin Marks and Todd Meredith from Spire, Joe Custer from Haas Manufacturing unit Staff and Rick Ware Racing’s Rick Ware and Tommy Baldwin.
Hutchins mentioned there’s ‘new data’ ‘that I imagine is coming in as I converse’ about communications from people inside the NASCAR group that show Spire is in possession of trade-secreted data from Joe Gibbs Racing.
Decide Rodriguez conceded ‘that is regarding’ but additionally informed Hutchins that ‘I can’t provide you with carte blanche’ and ‘I want specifics.’
Hutchins was not in a position to present specifics in court docket at the moment but additionally mentioned she would get extra data for the court docket.
“I’d be joyful to, your honor.”
For now, the decide didn’t permit for the third-party subpoena ‘with out prejudice,’ that means this matter may be introduced up once more however not as a part of this particular expedited discovery movement.
Ought to somebody file a related declaration for JGR, or if discovery produced proof that that is occurring, the decide would reopen the matter for filings and a listening to.
It’s price noting that Meredith served as one of many founding executives of Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992 and was formally with the corporate till 2016. He joined Trackhouse as President of Racing Operations in July 2025.
Forensic evaluation ‘fell aside’
Over the weekend, the makes an attempt by the attorneys representing Gabehart and Joe Gibbs Racing ‘fell aside’ concerning an settlement for extra forensic evaluation on units owned by the Chris and Jennifer Gabehart.
For one, Gabehart bought a brand new laptop on November 15, which is earlier than the final date that JGR claims that he continued accessing proprietary recordsdata and after he stopped ‘performing duties’ as competitors director on November 10.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s forensic analyst, Clark Walton, says a Identified Synced Googled Drive continued to work together with a file on Gabehart’s JGR laptop that had a folder titled ‘Spire’ by way of November 23.
“For what goal may he probably be going into these recordsdata,” mentioned Hutchins, arguing on behalf of JGR?
Hutchins mentioned that Gabehart’s camp has refused to permit for a forensic evaluation of that new laptop. At one level, Davis mentioned they’d ‘imaged’ each machine in query in preparation for discovery or a court docket order, however then contradicted himself and mentioned the brand new private laptop had not but been imaged by a forensic professional.
The decide then admonished Davis for a ‘misrepresentation’ about what was imaged and preserved. Davis apologized.
“I’m scratching my head over why considered one of Mr. Gabehart’s computer systems haven’t been imaged,” mentioned Decide Rodriguez.
The argument being made by Hutchins and JGR is that they do not know if there’s nonetheless a bounce drive containing commerce secrets and techniques which have been plugged into this laptop that JGR hasn’t been given entry to but.
Spire says, and have produced, a doc that present Gabehart signed a non-disclosure settlement upon his first day with Dickerson saying they don’t need nor want Joe Gibbs Racing analytics resulting from their relationship with Hendrick Motorsports.
One of many recordsdata Gabehart accessed was a folder containing one thing known as ‘Undertaking Howler’ earlier than and after his December lunch with Dickerson that was captured by a non-public investigator.
Hutchins needs to know why Gabehart was googling ‘indemnity’ instantly after a name from JGR CFO Eric Schaffer to Spire president Invoice Anthony on December 4. To indemnify ‘is to compensate one other celebration for losses, damages, or authorized liabilities, or to guard them towards such dangers.’
She echoed a sentiment her staff made in a submitting earlier within the month.
“Gabehart performed a Google seek for the time period ‘indemnify’ at 12:15 a.m. on December 4, 2025—solely hours after Schaffer’s name. It begs the query, why would Gabehart all of the sudden analysis indemnification in the course of the night time? The logical inference is as a result of Spire had simply warned him about potential authorized publicity and agreed to pay his bills.”
Decide Rodriguez additionally informed everybody in court docket to contemplate that misappropriation may additionally embrace mere acquisition and possession, and that this hasn’t been posed sufficient in filings or in court docket to date.
What subsequent?
March 18: Attorneys representing Gabehart and JGR come to phrases on Decide Rodriguez’ court docket order phrases
March 22: Expedited discovery interval ends
March 23: Response due
March 25: Supplemental filings due
March 26: Listening to set for preliminary injunction
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