( January 10, 2020, 1:30 PM EST) -- SEATTLE — In an unpublished opinion, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 23 ruled that a federal district court judge did not err in granting a summary judgment motion in favor of defendants in a trade secret misappropriation lawsuit brought by a seller of steel and PVC piping and related accessories against a former sales representative and his wife but that the judge’s award of attorney fees to the defendants was improper (RJB Wholesale Inc. v. Jeffrey Castleberry, et al., No. 18-35916, 9th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 38232)....