Earlier this fall, the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts transferred an employee’s declaratory judgment action to the Eastern District of Michigan pursuant to a forum-selection clause in a non-compete agreement over the employee’s argument that he had signed the agreement under duress because he was not told he would need to sign it until he had already spent the money and traveled all the way from India to the United States. The court also used the value of the employee’s annual salary, not just the damages the former employee was seeking to recover, to determine whether the minimum threshold for diversity jurisdiction had been satisfied, because his former employer was seeking to enforce his non-compete and keep him out of work. The case is Kurra v. Synergy Computer Solutions, Inc., No. 15-cv-13952-ADB (D. Mass.).
Continue Reading Federal Court Rejects Foreign Employee’s Attempt to Avoid Forum Selection Clause on Grounds He Signed Under Duress Upon Arriving in U.S.
Forum Selection Clause in Non-Compete Agreement Unenforceable
A contractual provision designating the exclusive venue for filing a breach of contract lawsuit was held to be trumped by a 100-year old statute requiring trial of such cases in the county of residence of at least one party. A&D Environmental Services, Inc. v. Miller, Case No. COA14-913 (N.C. App., Apr. 7, 2015).
Summary of the case. A North
Continue Reading Forum Selection Clause in Non-Compete Agreement Unenforceable
California Federal Court Dismisses California Employee’s Challenge Of His Non-Compete Agreement Based Upon Enforceable Forum Selection Provision
By Robert Milligan and Grace Chuchla
California federal courts have again said it loud and clear — when analyzing whether or not the enforcement of a forum selection clause within a non-competition agreement is contrary to California public policy, the court will not consider the substantive effects of enforcing the clause. In a recent case out of the Northern District,
Continue Reading California Federal Court Dismisses California Employee’s Challenge Of His Non-Compete Agreement Based Upon Enforceable Forum Selection Provision
California Federal Court Ships California Employee’s Declaratory Relief Action Seeking To Invalidate His Non-Compete To Pennsylvania
On February 27, 2012, a California federal judge for the Northern District of California, decided the case of Hegwer v. American Hearing and Associates, finding that the alleged illegality of a non-compete clause in an employment agreement involving a California employee has no bearing on a legal forum selection clause. Accordingly, the Court transferred the employee’s declaratory relief action to Pennsylvania federal court.