A communications company sought to enjoin a former employee from working for a competitor or divulging any trade secrets, pursuant to a non-competition agreement signed by the parties. The employee contended that the agreement was unenforceable because it failed to define a key term. The U.S. District Court for the…
A business sought to enforce a covenant not to compete against a former employee in Matter of Richard Manno & Co., Inc. v. Manno, requesting a preliminary injunction from the Supreme Court of Suffolk County, New York pending the outcome of arbitration. The agreement between the parties was part of…
When determining the legitimacy of restrictive covenants, it is important for judges to consider all requirements of legitimacy and to do so consistently. In a recent case, two former employees of Reliable Fire Equipment, a company which sells, installs, and services portable fire extinguishers and fire suppression and alarm…
Super Lawyers named Chicago and Oak Brook business trial attorney Peter Lubin a Super Lawyer in the Categories of Class Action, Business Litigation and Consumer Rights Litigation. DiTommaso Lubin’s Oak Brook and Chicago business trial lawyers have over thirty years experience litigating complex class action, consumer rights and business and…
An appeals court reversed a trial court’s temporary injunction, which had prohibited a veterinarian from practicing within a thirty-mile radius of her former employer. The dispute in Heiderich, et al v. Florida Equine Veterinary Services, Inc. involved a veterinarian who, after termination of her employment by the plaintiff, established a…
A Texas federal court, after initially dismissing a motion for preliminary injunction as moot, granted the plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration in Travelhost, Inc. v. Modglin. The court ruled that, although the two-year time period of the non-compete agreement had already expired, the plaintiff was entitled to a preliminary injunction and…
In a dispute over the enforcement of two restrictive covenants in an employment contract, a federal court in Georgia granted a preliminary injunction preventing their enforcement. The plaintiff in Moorad v. Affordable Interior Systems, LLC filed a declaratory judgment action against his former employer to have the restrictive covenants declared…
A former franchisee of a regional pizza restaurant chain were barred from operating pizza restaurants within certain geographic areas, according to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City. In Singas Famous Pizza Brands Corp., et al v. New York Advertising, the plaintiffs sought to enjoin the defendant…
An Indiana federal district court ruled, in CDW, LLC, et al v. NETech Corporation, that neither a parent company nor one of its subsidiaries may sue to enforce the employment contracts of another of its subsidiaries, when one subsidiary is clearly the party to the agreement. The dispute involved covenants…
Non-compete agreements are increasingly more common in today’s competitive business environment. Non-compete agreements, confidentiality and other restrictive covenants are a great tool for protecting trade secrets, customer lists, and other sensitive information, but only if the agreement is enforceable in a court of law. The issue of enforceability of non-compete…