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…
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…
A company that leased photocopier machines to a printing company prevailed on a motion for summary judgment in a breach of contract claim brought by the business leasing the copy machines. In M&B Graphics, Inc. v. Toshiba Business Solutions (USA), Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of…
While most businesses strive to maintain employee stability, the fact of the matter is that during the course of any company’s existence there will be a certain amount of turnover. In states like Illinois, many employers utilize employment contracts that contain non-compete clauses and other restrictive covenants to protect themselves…
It is very difficult to obtain an injunction when monetary damages can compensate for a business’s losses. A recent article in Reuter’s regarding Kraft Food’s bid to require Starbucks to allow it to continue to distribute Star Buck’s coffee illustrates the point. Reuter’s reports: A federal judge rejected Kraft…