No, really, I'm not here. (Smackdown)

In McFarland v. Brier, 769 A.2d 605 (R.I. 2001), The Supreme Court reviewed a judgment for the plaintiffs, who alleged misappropriation of trade secrets amongst other charges. The defendant's behavior was less than exemplary:

In the weeks that followed Bibeau's departure from R&L, McFarland was informed by his customers that CSI was soliticing their business by submitting bids for the same products sold by R&L. Not only were Brier and Bibeau targeting R&L's customers, they also were trying to recruit R&L sales representatives. A witness described a meeting attended by both Brier and Bibeau, who were attempting to lure a long-time R&L sales representative away from R&L to work for CSI. The witness was warned that if she ever was questioned about the meeting, that Bibeau was in fact "not present" at the meeting. It was explained to her that beacuse of a noncompetition agreement that he signed with R&L, Bibeau could not own or be associated with a company that competed with R&L. Bibeau then assured the witness that he possessed all of R&L's computer programs, as well as the customer information necessary to complete with R&L.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court goes on to hold that the UTSA expressly provides for exemplary damages for willful and malicious appropriation, like the action of the defendants here:

"Under the facts of this case, we are satisfied that if ever egregious misconduct deserving of punitive damages has occurred, this is such a case."