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Restrictive Covenants Employment Litigation Appeals

Husch Blackwell LLP

Supreme Judicial Court Limits Scope of Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement

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The Massachusetts legislature passed the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (MNAA) in 2018, culminating a longstanding effort to balance employers’ rights to protect legitimate business interests—such as trade...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

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Contemporaneous Onboarding Documents May Invalidate An Employer’s “Squeaky Clean” Arbitration Agreement

Cross Country Healthcare, Inc., a healthcare staffing company, believed that it had a “squeaky clean” Arbitration Agreement with its employees. ...more

Morgan Lewis

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

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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

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

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

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Tenth Circuit Affirms Distinction Between Forfeiture and Penalty for Competition

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

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

Jenner & Block

Delaware Supreme Court Reaffirms Reluctance to Blue-Pencil Overbroad Restrictive Covenants in Sunder v. Jackson

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The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in Sunder Energy, LLV v. Jackson, No. 455, 2023, 2024 Del. LEXIS 407 (December 10, 2024) reaffirmed the courts’ limited willingness to modify or “blue-pencil” overbroad restrictive...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Update on the State of Non-compete Restrictions (LaborSpeak)

In August 2024, a federal district court set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s rule banning non-competes. The FTC recently halted its appeals of that ruling and a similar decision, likely signaling the abandonment of a...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

One Year Later, FTC’s Noncompete Ban Remains on Life Support, as FTC Mulls Pulling the Plug

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As readers of this blog will recall, last April, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted along party lines to finalize a rule (the Noncompete Ban) that would have banned the vast majority of employee noncompete agreements...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Feeling Competitive: The Reasonableness of Forfeiture-for-Competition Provisions

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In 2024, employers rushed to track the twists and turns of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) noncompete ban, which attempted to limit the enforceability of agreements that restrict employees from working for a competitor...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Employment Litigation Roundup: March 2025

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Connecticut declines to restrain departed founder from using client list - A Connecticut federal judge in TJT Capital Group, LLC v. Timothy McFadden denied an investment adviser’s motion for a temporary restraining order...more

FordHarrison

"In Any Capacity" Language Dooms Georgia Non-Compete Provision

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Prior to the enactment of Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (“GRCA”), Georgia courts uniformly struck down non-compete provisions that used “in any capacity language”, i.e., a non-compete that prohibited an employee from...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

A No-Go for Employees’ Anti-Trust Claims Based on High-End No-Hire Agreements

CDF Labor Law LLP on

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of a class action against defendants Saks Inc., Gucci, Prada, Loro Piana, Brunello Cucinelli and other luxury good manufacturers....more

A&O Shearman

Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Luxury Brands’ No-Poach Suit

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On March 13, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action asserting claims under Section 1 of the Sherman Act against a department store chain (the...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Massachusetts High Court To Weigh In on Forfeiture-for-Solicitation Provisions in Era of Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement...

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On Monday, March 3, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) heard argument in Miele v. Foundation Medicine, Inc., regarding whether the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act, G. L. c. 149, § 24L (the...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Seventh Circuit Rules Forfeiture-for-Competition Clauses Under Delaware Law Enforceable and Not Subject to Reasonableness Review

In 2021, LKQ Corporation (LKQ) filed suit against Robert Rutledge, its former plant manager, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. LKQ alleged that Rutledge’s working for a competitor within nine...more

Blank Rome LLP

New Year, New FTC Chair, and Renewed Focus on Non-Compete Agreements

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It is nearly impossible to think about the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) without thinking about the chaos caused by the non-compete ban it approved last year over vociferous dissent only to have the ban vacated and set...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Employment Litigation Roundup: December 2024

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Arizona employer cannot exclude settlement communications from former employee’s retaliation complaint - In Flores v. Rafi Law Group PLLC, the plaintiff accused her law firm employer of retaliating against her by (i)...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Indiana Appeals Court Rejects Noncompete That Prevented Work in Any Capacity

On November 25, 2024, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that a former chief operating officer (COO) at a medical fee collection company did not breach noncompete agreements and a nondisclosure provision when she took a job...more

ArentFox Schiff

California Employers Face Feb. 14 Deadline and Tighter Non-Compete Prohibitions

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California has long had the most restrictive laws against employee non-compete agreements. Effective January 1, two new legislative bills, Senate Bill 699 and Assembly Bill 1076, tightened California’s restrictions even...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Employment Litigation Roundup: December 2023

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Delaware court declines to enforce restrictive covenants in LLC agreement but grants interlocutory appeal. In Sunder Energy v. Jackson, et al., a company, Sunder, sued a former employee, Jackson, for breaching a...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Employment Litigation Roundup: November 2023

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Ex-employee’s golf outing with customer does not violate non-solicit - An auto parts manufacturer in Michigan sought a preliminary injunction against a former sales employee for violating his restrictive covenants,...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Appeal Court Decides Non-competition Clause in Employment Agreement Governed by Common Law is Unenforceable

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In M & P Drug Mart Inc. v. Norton, 2022 ONCA 398, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) dismissed an employer’s appeal of an application judge’s decision that a non-competition clause in an employment agreement governed by...more

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