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Non-Compete Agreements › Restrictive Covenants › Employment Litigation

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 -
Fennemore

Federal and California’s Shared Interest in Promoting Open Competition: Isn’t it Ironic?

Fennemore on

This article provides a brief history of California’s pro-competition law and describes the stalled federal initiative to extend a similar noncompete ban nationally, notwithstanding the overlapping policy interests expressed...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Says Use of Noncompetes Indicates Employment Instead of Contractor Relationship

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on

In recent years, state courts have questioned whether independent contractors can be placed under enforceable post-engagement noncompetition agreements. ...more

Stevens & Lee

FTC Requests Additional 60 Days to Consider Dropping Defense of Noncompete Ban

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A reconstituted Federal Trade Commission (Commission) has asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant it a 60-day continuance to consider whether to drop the defense of its rule banning noncompetes. As previously...more

Jenner & Block

Delaware Court Refuses to Enforce or Modify Overbroad Noncompete in Cleveland Integrity Services v. Byers

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In Cleveland Integrity Services, LLC v. Byers (Del. Ch. Feb. 28, 2025), the Delaware Court of Chancery declined to enforce a two-year non-compete agreement that it found to be geographically overbroad and refused to narrow or...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Delaware Court Confronts Issue of First Impression: When a Company Attempts to Enforce a Noncompete Seeking Only Damages, Does the...

Foley & Lardner LLP on

In Fortiline, Inc. v. McCall, the plaintiffs sought to enforce a noncompetition agreement against its former employees through a preliminary injunction. The court denied the injunction, holding the noncompetition agreements...more

ArentFox Schiff

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

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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

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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

Conn Kavanaugh

It’s Confirmed: Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act Excludes Non-Solicitation Agreements

Conn Kavanaugh on

On June 13, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a significant decision in Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc. (SJC-13697) confirming that the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (the “MNAA”) does...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Sausage Race Heats Up: Hormel Foods Sues Sausage Competitor Johnsonville Claiming Trade Secrets Misappropriation

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Just in time for grilling season in the Midwest, Hormel Foods Corporation (“Hormel”) filed a federal lawsuit in the District of Minnesota against its competitor, Johnsonville, LLC (“Johnsonville”), and two former Hormel...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

MA SJC Upholds Forfeiture for Employee Breaching Non-Solicitation Agreement

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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

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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

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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

Seward & Kissel LLP

Employment Litigation Roundup: May 2025

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Fifth Circuit holds six-month delay in ADA accommodation request was unreasonable - The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Strife v. Aldine Independent School District partially reversed the lower court’s dismissal of an...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

The Forfeited Equity Trap: Why Your Non-Compete Might Be Worthless

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Imagine you’re a private equity firm. You buy a company, and you want to retain and incentivize key employees, so you give them some equity in the form of incentive units.  You also want to prevent them from running off and...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Wolfspeed, Durham-Based Semiconductor Producer, Fighting Financial Peril in the Market and Employee Exits in the Courts

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Wolfspeed, a Durham-based silicon carbide semiconductor business, has plenty on its plate these days amid media reports of an impending bankruptcy reorganization. While such a filing would be aimed at a short(ish) judicial...more

Hendershot Cowart P.C.

Are Non-Compete Agreements Banned in Texas?

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Last year in April, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a rule to ban most non-compete agreements nationwide. Within hours the rule was challenged in courts across the country, and after months of federal litigation...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Tenth Circuit Affirms Distinction Between Forfeiture and Penalty for Competition

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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

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies Enforcement of Forfeiture-for-Competition Provisions

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LKQ Corp. v. Rutledge, C.A. No. 110, 2024 (Del. Dec. 18, 2024) - In this en banc decision, the Delaware Supreme Court answered a certified question from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Trade Secrets on Trial: Strategic Decisions for the Courtroom - Employment Law This Week® - Spilling Secrets Podcast

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This week, on our Spilling Secrets podcast series, our panelists discuss the ins and outs of trying trade secret cases in a courtroom: What’s the secret to winning a trade secret trial? Find out in this compelling episode of...more

Lathrop GPM

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

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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

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