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Non-Compete Agreements › Employment Litigation › Contract Disputes

Non-Compete Agreements are contracts, typically formed in employment or business purchase contexts, where one party agrees to refrain from engaging in a particular line of work or pursuing business within a... more +
Non-Compete Agreements are contracts, typically formed in employment or business purchase contexts, where one party agrees to refrain from engaging in a particular line of work or pursuing business within a certain industry or locale. The purpose of these agreements is to protect employers or business purchasers from competition stemming from former employees or former owners of a business. less -
Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Finds Employee’s Restrictive Covenants Unenforceable for Lack of Consideration

Morris James LLP on

N. Am. Fire Ultimate Holdings, LP v. Doorly, C.A. No. 2024-0023-KSJM (Del. Ch. Mar. 7, 2025) - A contract requires consideration to be enforceable. In this case, the Court of Chancery held restrictive covenants were...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Non-Compete Fight Yields Mixed Results in Cabrita v. Vitabyte, Inc.

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The enforceability of non-compete agreements remains an active issue in New York courts, and a recent Queens County Commercial Division case, Cabrita v. Vitabyte, Inc., offers a good example of how judges can be willing to...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Florida’s CHOICE Act Enacted: Helping Employers Read Between the Lines of the New Non-Compete Law

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Florida’s CHOICE Act, short for “Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth” (CHOICE), is now law. For details of the Act, see Florida’s CHOICE Act Offers Employers Unprecedented Tools...more

ArentFox Schiff

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Ruling: Noncompetition Agreement Act Does Not Apply to Forfeiture Clauses

ArentFox Schiff on

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently clarified the scope of the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (MNAA). In Susan Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc., the SJC held the MNAA does not apply where a...more

Falcon Rappaport & Berkman LLP

Delaware Chancery Court Narrows the Path for Enforceable Non-Competes: Lessons from North American Fire and Payscale

Falcon Rappaport & Berkman LLP on

A notable trend has emerged in Delaware with respect to the enforceability of non-competes – while once considered a management-friendly jurisdiction, two recent decisions demonstrate a marked shift towards a closer scrutiny...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

MA SJC Upholds Forfeiture for Employee Breaching Non-Solicitation Agreement

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP on

On June 13, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in Susan Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc., that the Massachusetts Non-Competition Agreement Act (the “Act”) does not apply to a non-solicitation...more

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints

Top Massachusetts Court Clarifies That Non-Solicitation Covenants Fall Outside the State’s Non-Compete Law

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In a closely watched decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc. clarified that the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (MNAA) (G.L. c. 149, § 24L) does not apply to...more

Morgan Lewis

Massachusetts High Court Clarifies Noncompete Law’s Scope, Declines to Let Nonsolicits ‘Through the Back Door’

Morgan Lewis on

In Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) clarified that the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (MNAA or the Act) does not apply to a forfeiture clause triggered by a breach...more

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

Massachusetts High Court Rules for Employer in Nonsolicitation Challenge

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. on

Although the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act expressly excludes nonsolicitation agreements from its definition of “noncompetition agreements,” the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently responded to a...more

Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Clarifies Scope of Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act

Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP on

On Friday, June 13, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its decision in Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc., SJC-13967, holding that forfeiture clauses tied to non-solicitation agreements were definitively...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Supreme Judicial Court Clarifies Scope of Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act

Holland & Knight LLP on

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has ruled that a forfeiture clause triggered by a breach of a non-solicitation agreement is not a "forfeiture for competition agreement" under the Massachusetts Noncompetition...more

BCLP

Hong Kong High Court Grants Injunction to Enforce Restrictive Covenants

BCLP on

In two separate decisions in April 2025, the Hong Kong High Court first refused, but then allowed, an IT company’s application for an interlocutory injunction to enforce post-termination restrictive covenants against its...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Tenth Circuit Affirms Distinction Between Forfeiture and Penalty for Competition

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive... on

In Lawson v. Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the forfeiture of certain stock awards for violating a covenant not to compete. Like the Seventh Circuit in LKQ Corp. v....more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Restrictive Covenants Unenforceable Where Consideration Forfeited

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In North American Fire Ultimate Holdings, LP v. Alan Doorly, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that the restrictive covenants included in an incentive unit grant agreement were unenforceable when the units received by the...more

Lathrop GPM

Massachusetts Federal Court Grants Preliminary Injunction for Noncompete Violations, Denies Injunction for Trademark Infringement

Lathrop GPM on

A federal court in Massachusetts recently granted, in part, a Motion for Preliminary Injunction as to enforcement of franchise agreement noncompete covenants but denied the motion as to claims of trademark infringement,...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Complying With Recent Guidance From Delaware Courts Regarding Enforcement of Noncompetes

Foley & Lardner LLP on

In line with the national trend making noncompetes more difficult to enforce, a number of Delaware courts have recently refused to “blue pencil” overbroad noncompetition agreements and have stricken them in their entirety. As...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Massachusetts Superior Court Axes an Attempt to Expand the Scope of the Seminal Non-Compete Law Concerning Material Change in...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

The Massachusetts Superior Court recently held in Now Business Intelligence, Inc. v. Donahue that a temporary reassignment during a business slowdown, consisting of the addition of certain non-billable duties, does not...more

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