Articles Posted in Business Litigation

It is common in lawsuits regarding non-compete agreements for plaintiffs to sue the new enterprise started by the former employee or the company that hires the former employee, i.e. a third party. Plaintiffs seek to enjoin these third parties from aiding and abetting the violation of the non-compete, as well as, hold them liable for…

Businesses often prefer to resolve their disputes by arbitration rather than litigation. When two parties who have entered into an agreement to arbitrate their disputes, that agreement to arbitrate is usually enforceable by either party. Frequently, one party may renege on its agreement to arbitrate for strategic reasons and attempt to avoid arbitrating the dispute…

Plaintiffs in litigation often allege as many types of claims as are applicable to the facts of their case. This practice essentially allows a party to plead alternative claims for different types of relief based on the same nucleus of facts. Under Florida law, a trade secret claim may preempt, i.e. supersede or displace, pleading…

Section 542.335(1)(d), Florida Statutes, states that a non-compete agreement, in an employment context that exceeds two years is subject to a legal presumption that the non-compete period is unreasonable. An employer may overcome this legal presumption in variety of ways. If the court finds that a longer non-compete period is necessary to protect a legitimate…

Many businesses create new business concepts. A business concept, however, does not automatically evolve from an interesting idea to a legally protected trade secret. A concept doesn’t need to be built to be protected, but the concept needs enough substance to be economically valuable and for a court to know what it’s protecting. Peter Mavrick…

It is not uncommon for parties in a business relationship, such as partners, franchisors and franchisees, and employers and employees, to discover that they cannot agree on their rights with respect to each other. Sometimes contracts are ambiguous, or the parties never determined how they would address a particular problem that later arises. Florida law…

A business can seek an injunction to enforce a non-compete agreement before a lawsuit is completed if the business is suffering losses due to the violation of a non-compete agreement. There are different legal standards for issuance of a temporary injunction, depending on whether the lawsuit and motion occur in federal or state court. The…

Arbitration can be a useful tool to thwart unwanted litigation, and, therefore, contracting parties often include mandatory arbitration provisions in contracts to discourage unnecessary litigation. See, e.g., Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, 139 S. Ct. 1407, 1412 (2019) (prohibiting employees from asserting a class action arbitration unless the class waived their right to sue in…

This article is the second in a two-part series on contractual “merger” or “integration” clauses (the terms merger and integration are used interchangeably). Integration/merger clauses purport to define a contract as being limited to only what is contained in the written document signed by the parties. This can help ensure that neither party will later…

This article is part one in a two-part series of articles on contractual “merger” or “integration” clauses, which purport to limit the terms of a contract to the terms contained in the written document signed by the parties. This can help ensure that neither party will later claim that he was promised something as part…