Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
In the recent case of Critical Care Systems, Inc. v. Heuer, the Illinois Appellate Court agreed that a non-compete agreement was too broad and thus unenforceable and affirmed the trial court’s refusal to enjoin the employee from joining a competitor of his former employer. The Appellate Court also refused the employer’s request to blue pencil and rewrite the agreement to make it narrower and thus enforceable holding Illinois law did not permit it to do that.
In November 2012, plaintiff, Critical Care Systems, Inc., filed a verified complaint against defendants, Dennis Heuer and IV Solutions, LLC, seeking injunctive relief barring its former employee Heuer under his non-compete agreement from taking a new job with IV Solutions. Critical Care also sought compensatory and punitive damages. Critical Care, the plaintiff thereafter petitioned the trial court to enter a preliminary injunction, which the trial court denied. The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court’s decision agreeing that Critical Care didn’t have unique information to protect and that its non-compete agreement was too broad. Continue reading ›