USI Insurance Services, L.L.C., is suing a former broker with Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA. Chad Elgas is accused of breaching his non-compete obligation. The agreement he signed stipulated that he would not recruit Wells Fargo customers for two years. It also prohibited him from revealing trade secrets or confidential information. EPIC`s new employees filed a dismissal order, in which they said Wells Fargo had sold all of its insurance brokerage business and no longer had the right to enforce its non-compete obligations. What are the big banks doing to combat the loss of employees with experience in commercial lending? Ask these employees to sign a non-compete agreement that prevents them from working with another bank in the area for 1-2 years! If you work with one of these big banks. You should think twice before signing a non-compete clause, as you may seriously limit your future options. If you have already signed a non-compete agreement and are considering moving to a new start-up or community bank. It is best to speak to a lawyer who has experience in combating non-compete obligations. EPIC Insurance recently announced plans to expand into Pittsburg with other former members of the Wells Fargo Insurance Services team. Wells Fargo is arguing about the non-compete obligations they have signed.
As we discussed here earlier this year, Virginia lawmakers considered a bill that would restrict the use of non-compete obligations with certain categories of workers. Earlier this month, Virginia`s governor signed a number of new labor laws, including one that prohibits the use of agreements to avoid competing with "low-wage" employees. The law will come into force on July 1, 2020, but will not apply retroactively. A year after the deal was finalized, Lavin reportedly began discussions with PillPack to leave CVS for a position at Pillpack, and even interviewed executives at PillPack and Amazon. After the interview, Lavin was eventually offered the position of Director of Third-Party Networks and Contracts, which reported directly to the CEO of PillPack. Soon after, Lavin left CVS and started working at PillPack. Read more › A U.S. District Judge in Rhode Island recently issued a preliminary injunction to CVS Pharmacy, Inc. to prevent an executive who ran its Caremark retail network from working for Amazon`s pillPack online pharmacy, noting that the move would likely violate the executive`s non-compete code.
Variation of the non-compete obligation from one State to another: The non-compete obligation varies considerably from one State to another. The choice of applicable law is often decisive in non-competition clauses. Washington will apply reasonable non-compete obligations, but they are subject to many defenses. The same case would have been completely different under the non-compete obligation of another State. Let`s take Florida as an example. Florida is arguably one of the most competitive states in the country. This is not an exaggeration. In my opinion, Florida courts regularly issue injunctions in non-compete obligations when (1) there is no legitimate business interest and (2) there is no irreparable harm.
That is a problem. So if you place the same case in Florida, Wells Fargo will receive an injunction. Conclusion: Choice of law is of decisive importance in non-competition clauses. The new law states that "no employer shall make, enforce or threaten to enforce a commitment not to compete with a low-wage employee." It defines a "duty not to compete" as "an agreement or arrangement, including a provision of a contract of employment, between an employer and an employee that restricts, prohibits or otherwise restricts a person`s ability to compete with his or her former employer after the termination of his or her employment relationship." It is important to note that the law specifies that non-compete obligations "do not prevent an employee from providing a service to a client or client of the employer if the employee does not communicate with or recruit the client or client." Read more › Non-compete obligations serve an important purpose: to protect the interests of a company after the departure of an employee. A non-competition issue recently made headlines in New York. E-commerce and tech giant Amazon has filed a lawsuit against former vice president of marketing for its Amazon Web Services division, Brian Hall, claiming his new role at Google Cloud violated the terms of its non-compete agreement. In its complaint, Amazon claims that Hall`s job at Google threatens to cause irreparable damage and risks revealing valuable competitive information to one of its biggest rivals. Amazon is seeking both damages and an injunction, and is asking the court not to work for Hall for Google for the remainder of the 18-month non-compete period provided for in the agreement.
In a series of partial summary decisions, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed all non-compete and non-solicitation claims against Alphatec Holdings, Inc., a medical device company, and its president and CEO, Patrick Miles, in a lawsuit brought by Miles` former employer, NuVasive, Inc. The lawsuit alleges that Miles violated the non-compete and non-solicitation provisions of his employment contract when he moved to rival Alphatec in October 2017. The non-compete obligation is complex. If a former employer accuses you of violating a non-competition clause, it`s a good idea to consult a lawyer who specializes in business processes and breach of contract. John Lavin spent 27 years as a senior executive for CVS, most recently as Senior Vice President of Provider Network Services at CVS Caremark, a Benefits Manager (PBM). In this role, Lavin has negotiated with retail pharmacies on behalf of CVS Caremark. In May 2017, Lavin reached an agreement that included a commitment not to compete with other restrictive covenants in exchange for restricted share units worth $157,000, the court said. Lavin`s non-compete clause prohibited him from working for a competitor for 18 months after leaving CVS. The lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by Amazon to enforce non-compete obligations in employment contracts. In 2017, Amazon sued another former vice president who left Amazon Web Services to take a job at a Seattle software company, but dropped the lawsuit shortly after filing it. In 2019, Amazon filed a similar lawsuit against a former Amazon Web Services sales manager after he too left the company to take a job at Google Cloud.
A judge eventually agreed to partially reduce some aspects of the employee`s role at Google, but removed parts of the restrictive agreement as "inappropriate" and held Amazon responsible for taking a consistent approach to its non-compete obligation. The latest lawsuit comes after Washington state signed into law a new law last year that severely restricts the use of non-compete obligations within the state. We have already written here about this new law. The original agreement also contains several restrictive agreements, including a strict non-compete clause banning Easterbrook from working for fast food competitors and at least two convenience store chains over the next two years. The agreement provides that: Joshua Tyndell, William Dineen, H. Keith McNally, Thomas Blue and Erin Repp ("Respondent") have all worked for Wells Fargo Insurance Services, an insurance broker, for several years. In 2010, years after starting work for Wells Fargo, each of the defendants signed a document titled "Trade Secrets, Confidential Information, Non-Solicitation and Assignment of Inventions" ("the Agreement"). The agreement contained two restrictive agreements: the agreement prohibited the defendants from (1) hiring Wells Fargo employees or (2) doing business with Wells Fargo customers, both for a period of two years after they left the company.
We`ve already written about former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski, the former head of Google`s autonomous driving division, who was criminally charged with misappropriating trade secrets before leaving Google. Levandowski eventually pleaded guilty to stealing a confidential document related to Google`s autonomous driving technology. .
