The Walmart Zest Labs lawsuit ended in July 2025 with a confidential settlement, two months after a federal jury in Arkansas ordered Walmart to pay $222.7 million for stealing the small agricultural tech company’s produce-freshness trade secrets. The seven-year case ran through two jury trials, a vacated verdict, and a public fight over patents Walmart filed on technology Zest Labs said was its own.
What Zest Labs Accused Walmart Of
Zest Labs, an Arkansas-based subsidiary once known as Intelleflex, built a system called “Zest Fresh” that used wireless IoT temperature sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to predict how long produce would stay fresh from harvest to shelf. CEO Peter Mehring said the platform could cut store-level food waste by 50 percent or more.1Xtalks. Zest Labs CEO Comments on Recent Costco Partnership and Walmart Lawsuit
The two companies signed a confidentiality agreement on March 5, 2014, and Zest Labs demonstrated the technology to Walmart executives.2Talk Business & Politics. Rogers-Based Ecoark Sues Walmart, Alleges the Retailer Stole Its Technology Multiple pilot programs followed. Zest Labs said its work with Walmart between 2014 and 2017 helped the retailer reduce food waste by 30 percent.3Talk Business & Politics. Walmart Settles With Former Supplier Zest Labs Over Trade Secret Dispute
In March 2018, Walmart publicly unveiled a produce-freshness system it called “Eden,” describing it as an “intelligent food system” developed in six months by its own associates after an internal hackathon. Walmart said Eden was already running in 43 distribution centers and had prevented $86 million in food waste.4Walmart. Eden: The Tech That’s Bringing Fresher Groceries to You Mehring said Eden “sounded very similar to what we worked with them on for a number of years.”1Xtalks. Zest Labs CEO Comments on Recent Costco Partnership and Walmart Lawsuit Walmart had filed a provisional patent application on Eden in November 2017, one day after ending its relationship with Zest Labs.5Bloomberg Law. Walmart Patent Bids Set $223 Million Trade Secret Loss Apart
Zest Labs and its parent, Ecoark, sued Walmart in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on August 1, 2018, initially seeking $2 billion in damages.6CourtListener. Zest Labs, Inc. v. Wal-Mart Inc., Case No. 4:18-cv-00500 The complaint alleged Walmart had taken proprietary technology shared under the NDA and used it to build Eden.
The First Verdict and Why It Was Thrown Out
On April 9, 2021, a unanimous jury sitting before U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. awarded Zest Labs $115 million: $60 million in compensatory damages for trade secret misappropriation, $5 million for breach of the NDA, and $50 million in punitive damages for willful and malicious conduct. The jury also rejected Walmart’s counterclaim that Zest Labs had provided a “useless” freshness-monitoring tool, finding instead that Walmart had “fraudulently induced” Zest Labs into the agreement.7Reuters. Walmart Hit With $115 Million Verdict Over Food Waste Trade Secrets
The verdict did not survive. In December 2023, Judge Moody vacated the award and ordered a new trial. His reason: Zest Labs’ attorneys at Williams Simons & Landis had learned about Walmart’s 2019 non-provisional patent application weeks before it was publicly published, and had not told the court or opposing counsel.5Bloomberg Law. Walmart Patent Bids Set $223 Million Trade Secret Loss Apart The judge called the application “material evidence” on whether Zest Labs had taken reasonable steps to keep its claimed secrets confidential. Walmart accused Zest’s attorneys of lying under oath and destroying evidence about their knowledge of the application, and the judge weighed sanctions over what he called “their misrepresentation to the Court.”8GovInfo. Zest Labs Inc. et al v. Wal-Mart Inc., Order Regarding Sanctions
The patent question ran deeper than one filing. Walmart had filed two more non-provisional patent applications in 2019 covering systems for ripening produce and detecting inventory movements. Those were published in 2020 and granted in 2021 and 2022. Zest Labs called the filings “stealth torpedoes” that destroyed the trade-secret status of its technology by putting the underlying information into the public record. Walmart said the patents were irrelevant and covered technology it developed on its own.5Bloomberg Law. Walmart Patent Bids Set $223 Million Trade Secret Loss Apart
The Retrial and $222.7 Million Verdict
Zest Labs replaced its legal team with Bartko Pavia LLP, led by Patrick M. Ryan, for the second trial.9Grocery Dive. Walmart Ordered to Pay Zest Labs $222 Million in Trade Secret Lawsuit The retrial came with a handicap. Judge Moody barred any mention of the undisclosed patent applications, saying he would not let the company “improve its case in a retrial it had caused.” He put it this way at a pretrial hearing: “This is an oversimplification, but you don’t get to say: ‘My bank was robbed.’ And what did they take? ‘I don’t know. What did you find on the robber?'”5Bloomberg Law. Walmart Patent Bids Set $223 Million Trade Secret Loss Apart
Without the patent evidence, the new jury still sided with Zest Labs. On May 13, 2025, a unanimous verdict awarded $222.7 million: $72.7 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages. Jurors again found Walmart’s conduct willful and malicious.9Grocery Dive. Walmart Ordered to Pay Zest Labs $222 Million in Trade Secret Lawsuit The jury concluded Walmart had turned from a potential customer into a competitor, using Zest’s proprietary information to build Eden and then filing patents in its own name that effectively destroyed Zest’s ability to market the technology as a trade secret.10Arkansas Business. Walmart, Zest Labs Settlement Ends Trade Secrets Case
Gary Metzger, manager of Zest Labs, said Walmart’s actions “hindered our ability to achieve the necessary scale to make a substantial impact and help feed the world.”11Grocery Dive. Walmart, Zest Labs Settle Trade Secret Dispute Walmart said it strongly disagreed with the verdict and planned to appeal.
The Confidential Settlement
The appeal never happened. On July 28, 2025, the parties told Judge Moody they had reached a confidential settlement resolving all issues between them, with a formal order of dismissal to follow by early August.10Arkansas Business. Walmart, Zest Labs Settlement Ends Trade Secrets Case Walmart confirmed the outcome in a statement: “Zest Labs Holdings LLP, Zest Labs, Inc. and Walmart Inc. have agreed to a confidential settlement that resolves all issues between them.”3Talk Business & Politics. Walmart Settles With Former Supplier Zest Labs Over Trade Secret Dispute
The dollar figure was not disclosed. Before the settlement, the punitive portion of the jury award had been subject to a $4.6 million reduction under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, which caps exemplary damages. Patrick Ryan said that although jurors called Zest Labs’ technology “revolutionary,” Walmart’s patent filings had put the core technology in the public record, leaving the company facing serious challenges if it tried to re-enter the sector.10Arkansas Business. Walmart, Zest Labs Settlement Ends Trade Secrets Case
Fallout: Zest Labs Sues Its Former Lawyers
The Walmart case ended, but the litigation around it did not. In January 2026, Zest Labs and its original trial firm sued each other.
Zest Labs filed a malpractice suit against Williams Simons & Landis and Vinson & Elkins. The complaint alleged the firms bungled the original case by failing to disclose the patent evidence that caused the first verdict to be thrown out, neglected to seek recovery for $140 million in research and development costs, and overbilled the company by more than $13 million. Zest Labs argued that competent counsel “could have, and likely would have, recovered a $420 million judgment, not a $220 million judgment,” estimating the malpractice cost it up to $200 million in additional potential damages.12Reuters. Tech Startup Sues Its Lawyers After Winning $222 Million Walmart Verdict
Williams Simons & Landis sued back on January 7, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Austin, saying Zest Labs owed at least $11 million in unpaid attorney fees and expenses from the first Walmart trial. The firm also named Bartko Pavia LLP as a defendant, accusing the new firm of tortious interference by pressing Williams Simons & Landis to “walk away” from any compensation while controlling settlement funds. William A. Brewer III, representing Williams Simons & Landis, called the malpractice claims “nothing more than an attempt to deflect from paying our client” and said Zest Labs had “fabricated negligence claims to justify the non-payment” of legal fees.13Arkansas Business. Zest Labs Sues Its Former Attorneys After Walmart Case Ryan said Bartko Pavia was not a “proper party” to the fee dispute.