By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Non-Solicitation Agreements,Trade SecretsI don’t think I’ve ever dedicated a post to a newspaper article but a recent New York Times article entitled “How Noncompete Clauses Keep Workers Locked In” does a great job addressing the human toll of non-competes. Here is a link to the article. The article is generally anti-non-compete when it comes to lower paid… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Recent Cases,Uncategorized A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the rationale behind why Texas lawyers aren’t subject to non-compete agreements. That said, generally lawyers aren’t permitted to compete with their current law firm/employer while still employed. That seems pretty basic. Imagine this fact pattern pulled from the allegations from the above lawsuit: Lawyer works… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Non-Solicitation Agreements Quite often I have lawyer friends ask me why Texas lawyers (and lawyers from other states) aren’t the subject of non-competes? There aren’t really any cases that I’ve run across on the subject, which sometimes is an indicator that law firms aren’t trying to enforce them. The answer is not that complicated. Queue Texas… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Non-Solicitation Agreements,Trade SecretsA Texas non-compete must satisfy two main components to be enforceable. The non-compete has to be ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and be reasonable in time and scope. Before the Texas Supreme Court this week was a case where the court was asked to consider a non-compete without a geographical restriction and consider whether such an… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Non-Solicitation Agreements,Uncategorized I went to school in Utah and manage to ski up there every so often. That’s a picture of my son and I in December. Recently I ran accross an article breaking down changes to Utah’s and Idaho’s non-compete laws. The Utah statute really grabbed my attention. The highlights: (1) non-competes can only last… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Recent Cases,UncategorizedA few weeks ago we touched on the “insider trading” that was going on at the fantasy sites Fan Duel and Draft Kings. It ended up being the subject of a Republican Debate and then the the New York Attorney General got involved. He claims the websites are nothing but betting and it trying to… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Non-Solicitation AgreementsIt’s been 3 and a half years since the Marsh opinion that redefined what could constitute consideration for a Texas non-compete and courts have bee relatively quiet on non-competes since then. That’s not surprising from the Texas Supreme Court as Marsh was the third of a trilogy of opinions dealing with the subject. Appellate courts… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Non-Solicitation AgreementsIn Seattle, former Amazon Web Services Strategic Partnership Manager Zoltan Szabadi was sued by Amazon for violation of his non-compete agreement. Szabadi is now with Google in their cloud platform business. The lawsuit alleges: Szabadi was directly and integrally involved with the marketing of Amazon’s cloud computing business to its partners and resellers, and played… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction Just a few random thoughts on Non-Compete/Non-Solicit TROs after some recent experiences: Hopefully the other side is represented by counsel – Despite popular belief the ex parte TRO is in many instances much harder to get than one where the other side is represented by counsel. It’s just easier when… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction Last week I had the opportunity to speak to the Dallas-Fort Worth Recruiters Network about non-compete agreements. One of the questions that came up was what type of fees should a litigant who is either trying to enforce or defend a non-compete anticipate? Though an exact dollar amount will vary based… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in InjunctionAs I have mentioned here previously I am an avid cyclist and triathlete. The most polarizing figure in both sports right now is Lance Armstrong. The United States Anti-Doping Agency has asserted doping claims against Armstrong and others. At risk are Lance’s seven Tour de France wins, the right to continue in the sport of… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction In Texas a party seeking a temporary restraining order can do so ex parte – without the presence of the other side. In Dallas, most cases require that Plaintiff seeking the TRO provide the other side with the actual pleadings and a proposed Temporary Restraining Order two hours before any hearing. When the… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Solicitation AgreementsLast year we profiled the TEKSystems v. Hammernik case that was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The case was significant because it was one of the first where a Plaintiff seeking a temporary injunction used communications from social media (LinkedIn) as evidence of a non-solicit violation. Ultimately, the… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction A recent non-compete/injunction opinion was delivered by Judge Marcia Cooke who presides in the Southern District of Florida. The opinion deals with the departure of a California wine executive to another competitor. It addresses many of the issues addressed in this blog under Florida law including choice of law issues, whether customer information is… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements #1: Employers can’t enforce non-competes when they terminated the employee. Wrong – Assuming the non-compete satisfies Texas law, it can survive termination or resignation. Most agreements will spell this out in the agreement, some do not. (Now of course this also assumes the firing was legal, i.e., not based on race, national origin,… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction It’s not every day that a Dallas district court spars with the High Court in London over the sale of the Liverpool Football Club. But, that is exactly what happened last week. For those who are not familiar with Tom Hicks, he… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction Mike Leach’s application for a temporary restraining order to permit him to coach Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl on January 2 was mooted when Tech fired him on December 30. Allegedly, the timing… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction The difference between equitable claims and legal claims goes back hundreds of years when there were essentially 2 different courts depending upon the relief sought. District courts and county courts in Texas can award both equitable and legal relief. So what does that mean? A claim for injunctive relief is equitable. Also, a… Continue Reading
By Rob Radcliff on Posted in Injunction,Non-Compete Agreements,Trade Secrets I liked Jay Shepherds’ remarks in Eight Ways to Lose a Non-Compete Case blog entry. Here they are with my thoughts in italics: Putting too much faith in the belief that the court will enforce the language of the non-compete agreement as written. Trying to enforce a non-compete against employees who really don’t… Continue Reading
