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Real estate giant CBRE has filed a massive theft of trade secrets lawsuit against former longtime broker Richard Rizika. In its complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, CBRE details a shocking, intentional, pre-meditated conspiracy to steal nearly 500,000 company documents and files. Whether or not the documents … Continue reading
In a surprising continuation of Obama-era policy, the Trump DOJ has announced that it will pursue criminal action against firms using no-poaching agreements. On January 18th, 2018, while speaking at an Antitrust Research Foundation conference, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim noted that the DOJ has not backed away from previous no-poaching guidance. Instead, AAG Delrahim … Continue reading
It’s time to take a hard look at non-compete agreements in the car business. Let’s use an example: AutoNation, the Fort-Lauderdale-based car industry giant and Fortune 500 company. For the past twenty years or more, AutoNation has had a field day filing weak non-compete lawsuits. AutoNation files these cases in its backyard, the United States … Continue reading
Question: When two members of a privately held LLC get together and conspire to wrongfully expel the third member, what is the worst possible course of action they can take? Answer: Insist that the wrongfully expelled member is STILL a member and is bound by a non-compete, then litigate the matter until the bitter end. … Continue reading
In the latest chapter of the Waymo v. Uber trade secret litigation, the Court has dealt Waymo yet another blow, this time excluding its damages expert. Let’s take a look. To briefly recap: Waymo is a Google spin-off focused on self-driving cars. Uber is Uber. Anthony Levandowski was a leading Waymo engineer. In 2015, Uber … Continue reading
To sum up the latest chapter of the Waymo v. Uber trade secret litigation: Waymo basically embarrasses itself. Uber pretty much wins. Let’s take a look: Waymo / Uber Background Waymo is a technology company focused on self-driving cars. It’s a Google spin-off. Uber is, well, Uber. Anthony Levandowski (“AL”) was one of Waymo’s star engineers. … Continue reading
Let’s beat the same drum but only this time, take it a step further: Widespread Ignorance About Non-Competes & Antitrust Certain practitioners and judges have absolutely no understanding of the antitrust principles upon which non-compete law is based. True story: I was in a hearing in front a federal judge who I will not … Continue reading
I’ve been saying it for years: Non-compete agreements are restraints of trade and are subject to antitrust scrutiny. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agrees. Before the court can consider whether or not there has been a breach of an agreement not to compete, it first must evaluate the propriety of … Continue reading
A team of insurance brokers left Wells Fargo, probably took $6.5 million in business with them and managed not to get enjoined. But they might be toast in the end and owe Wells Fargo lots of money. Let’s take a look: Case Background Joshua Tyndell, William Dineen, H. Keith McNally, Thomas Blue, and Erin Repp … Continue reading
FOR-EV-ER. Remember The Sandlot? That’s what we’re talking about here. FOR-EV-ER. A recent decision out of Michigan and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reminds us that some non-competes can last forever and that jury instructions are incredibly important. Let’s take a look: In 1947, Fred Barton developed a radiator stop leak … Continue reading
the non-compete blog 