International science icon and real estate mogul Fred Kavli is suing a much smaller competitor.

In a lawsuit filed in Ventura County Superior Court in late August, Kavli alleges that a former employee of his Oxnard-based real estate firm Sunbelt Enterprises misappropriated trade secrets, breached fiduciary duties and is unfairly competing with him.

Defendant David Massie has caused Sunbelt to lose tens of millions of dollars in potential business, the complaint alleges.
Massie, who opened his own commercial real estate firm in Agoura Hills in July, said in an e-mail to the Business Times that “this is a ‘David versus Goliath’ type of situation.” On the advice of his attorneys, he declined to comment further on the case. An attorney for Kavli also declined to comment on the litigation.

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