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Yesterday evening, at a cigar bar in Fort Lauderdale (shout out to the Florida Cigar Company), I had a discussion with a few gentlemen that touched upon the issues of confidential information, non-compete agreements and computer forensics. One of these gentlemen was in the process of separating from his current employer and starting his own … Continue reading
As an attorney who defends employees in non-compete cases, I am generally critical of how such agreements are used. For one thing, it seems that everybody has a non-compete agreement these days (maids, bartenders, news anchors), even when the facts suggest that such an agreement is unenforceable. And every plaintiff in every non-compete case runs … Continue reading
These days, speculating about antitrust cases against major companies appears to be all the rage. A few months back, there was a ton of chatter on the interwebs about Facebook’s potential liability for antitrust. This morning, CNET ran a piece entitled, “What an anti-Google antitrust case by the FTC may look like.” The key source … Continue reading
Interesting non-compete news out of Weymouth, Massachusetts (a small city about twenty miles south of Boston). Back in September 2009, a Boston-area dentist Gerald Maher sold his practice to a newly formed company called Dental Wellness. As part of the transaction, Maher agreed (1) to refrain from practicing dentistry within a 15-mile radius of Dental … Continue reading
Not a non-compete case– but it rhymes. The case is Eagle v. Morgan, et al., No. 11-4303 (E.D.Pa. December 22, 2011). The plaintiff, Linda Eagle, co-founded a company called Edcomm, which provides banking and financial training services. Eagle had been with Edcomm since the late 1980’s. In 2008, Eagle created a LinkedIn account. As expected, … Continue reading
In today’s America, non-compete agreements have become ubiquitous. Everybody has one. The wine salesman. The disc jockey. The advertising executive. Even the maid. One of the most obscene examples of the widespread use (and abuse) of non-compete agreements is that of non-competes in the healthcare industry. Many doctors are either driven out of town – … Continue reading
The widespread use of non-compete agreements – along with the concept of captive clients and captive labor – continues to produce the most absurd scenarios. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you MaidPro. MaidPro is a cleaning service. Recently, MaidPro was involved in a spat with a customer in Washington D.C. The customer had used a … Continue reading
A recent case out of Connecticut reaffirms one of the most basic tenants of defending non-compete cases: Leave it behind. Documents, customer lists, confidential files. Leave all of it behind. Do not attempt to take it with you for use at your new employer. A radio sales executive, Kristin Okesson, quit her job at a … Continue reading
Every once in a while, there is some good (i.e. pro-employee) news on the non-compete front. Such is the case this week with a recent decision out of the Southern District of New York. A federal court has just reaffirmed the long-standing rule that under New York state law, an employee who is terminated without … Continue reading
In Florida, non-compete agreements are governed by Florida Statute 542.335. The statute indicates that non-compete agreements can only be used to protect legitimate business interests. Although the Statute does not claim to be exhaustive, it does spell out a number of such interests. These interests include relationships with customers. In characteristic fashion, many companies suing … Continue reading
the non-compete blog 