Around 2010, non-compete abuse in America reached peak absurdity. As I have explained many times: This was a a product of the following factors: (1) The internet and the information age. (2) Widespread availability of copy and paste non-compete agreements. (3) Corporate lawyers pushing aggressive use of non-compete agreements as a revenue generation tool. Make … 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
A recent case out of the Southern District of Florida provides important guidance into the limits of non-compete agreements under Florida law. The case is one of the most comprehensive Florida non-compete decisions of the past several years, whether in state or federal court. Let’s take a look: IDMWorks is a company that specializes in … Continue reading
A recent case out of Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeals raises important raises important issues related to physician non-compete agreements. Let’s take a look: Before addressing the specifics of this case, some context is necessary: Agreements not to compete are restraints of trade. In any non-compete case, there are two lenses: restraint of trade … Continue reading
There are huge problems with agreeing to this sort of consent order. In litigation, a defendant can attack a non-compete or non-solicitation agreement in numerous ways, particularly in the staffing industry context. But once the defendant agrees to a consent order, its over. After a consent order has been issued, the defendant no longer has any right to challenge the enforceability of the restrictions on the merits. Continue reading
A recent non-compete case out of Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals deals with the issue of restrictive covenants and independent clauses. Let’s take a look: In the Trial Court Defendants Dale Denton and David West were employees of Richland Towers, Inc. They signed employment agreements with Richland that contained, among other restrictive covenants, non-compete … Continue reading
Florida continues to be a hotbed for non-compete litigation (possibly in light of the fact that Florida non-compete laws are among the most pro-employer in the country). A recent case out of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami pits National Deli, one of America’s largest manufacturers of deli … Continue reading
This is not your standard non-compete case: Just days ago, the Eleventh Circuit handed down its opinion in an extremely complex dispute related to shopping plazas, anchor tenants and restrictive covenants. Let’s take a look: Winn-Dixie is a regional grocery store chain based in Jacksonville, Florida. It has hundreds of supermarkets throughout the Southeast. In … Continue reading