On Thursday, January 19 at 10 a.m. Eastern, Boston partner Dawn Mertineit is presenting a webinar for the Federal Bar Association and myLawCLE. The “Drafting and Enforcing Restrictive Covenants in Multiple Jurisdictions” webinar covers best practices and key tips for businesses with employees in multiple jurisdictions, from drafting restrictive covenants agreements, implementing a plan to roll those agreements out, and
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Upcoming Webinar! How Multijurisdictional Businesses Should Approach Non-Competes
Tuesday, October 18
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific
In the sixth installment in the 2022 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys will discuss tips and best practices for multijurisdictional businesses when it comes to restrictive covenants, including non-compete and…
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Location, Location, Location
As in real estate, as in law. A recent ruling in the USDC for the District of Colorado demonstrates that procedural considerations of where to file may often have substantive consequences. Plaintiff LS3, Inc. (“LS3”) sued Cherokee Federal Solutions, LLC (“CFS”) and various former employees of LS3 in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. The gist of the action was that CFS, a competitor of LS3, solicited away former employees of LS3 to work for CFS in violation of employee non-compete agreements. Claims were asserted against the individual employees for breach of the restrictive covenant agreements and against CFS for tortious interference with those same agreements. Critically, the agreements at issue all contained Maryland choice-of-law provisions but apparently no venue or forum provisions.
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6th Circuit Bolsters Employer’s Right to Contract for Chosen Law
As many of our blog readers will know, the enforceability of restrictive covenants often depends on which state’s law applies to the dispute. For example, California is well known for refusing to enforce employee non-competition agreements and, recently, refusing to honor forum selection clauses in agreements with California employees without the employee first receiving legal advice. In contrast, with limited exceptions, most other states will generally enforce restrictive covenants. Consequently, for employers, controlling and choosing the correct law to apply to its restrictive covenant agreements can be critical to protection of its business interests.
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Five Easy Tips for Improving Your Company’s Non-Compete and Confidentiality Agreements and Related Practices Now
As January quickly passed by and new projects increase by the day, there is still a golden opportunity to capitalize on some low-hanging fruit to immediately improve your company’s practices and add immediate value to your company. The opportunity lies in improving your company’s restrictive covenant and confidentiality agreements and confidentiality policies. Below are five tips that you can employ…
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Texas Don’t Hold ‘Em: Forum Selection Clause Is Unenforceable
By: Joshua A. Rodine and Jonathan L. Brophy
California courts generally favor forum selection clauses entered into freely by parties and where enforcement is not unreasonable. This general principle is true even if the forum selection clause is “mandatory” and requires a party to litigate its dispute exclusively in the designated forum. The party opposing enforcement of a forum selection…
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Non-Compete And Non-Solicitation Covenants Contained In Bovine Artificial Insemination Employment Agreements Held Unenforceable
Several ex-employees now may compete with their former employer, and may solicit its employees and customers, after a federal judge in the Eastern District of Washington held that the restrictive provisions in their employment agreements are unenforceable.
The agreements, drafted by the former employer, contained a choice-of-law provision which the former employer tried unsuccessfully to invalidate. The court also held …
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Kansas Federal Court Denies Preliminary Injunction For Alleged Violation Of Confidentiality And Non-Compete Covenants under Canadian Law
The plaintiff corporation — now a Delaware LLC based in Kansas — was headquartered in Alberta, Canada at the time its employees signed agreements containing confidentiality and non-compete covenants. The agreements designated the applicable law to be that of Alberta. When its ex-employees allegedly violated the covenants, the plaintiff sued them and their new employer in a Kansas federal court. …
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New York Federal Court Denies Injunction to Enforce Restrictive Covenants Against Terminated Employee
Garrod, a salesman for more than 25 years in the field of elastomeric precision products (EPP), was terminated in mid-2012 after spending an aggregate of a dozen of those years working for manufacturers of EPP parts Fenner and a company acquired by Fenner.
He had signed both employers’ agreements containing non-compete and customer non-solicitation clauses–which appeared reasonable on their face–and…
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California Federal Court Ships Fiduciary Duty and Unfair Competition Suit to Delaware Based Upon Forum Selection Clause
By Robert Milligan and Grace Chuchla
Using a forum selection clause to transfer a case out of California federal court may have become easier thanks to a recent order from Judge Koh of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In her order, Judge Koh granted defendants’ motion to transfer plaintiff’s complaint to Delaware federal …
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