Articles Posted in Non-Compete Agreements

Under Florida law and in many states, there is an obligation of a duty of loyalty by the employee to the employer. That means the employee cannot do acts that would be harmful to the interest of the employer. An example would be an employee who starts a competing business while still working for the…

A trade secret is something that derives independent value because it’s not generally known. An employer wants to ensure that this trade secret is kept secret from its competitors, because it gets a competitive advantage by having this trade secret. An employee’s obligations are not to divulge that trade secret or to let it be…

A non-compete clause is a provision in a contract where one party promises not to compete against another party in certain circumstances. For example, a party agrees not to open a competing business within a certain geographic limit, or possibly a non-solicitation provision is a part of the non-compete provision, not to hire certain employees…

A nonsolicitation agreement basically requires that the person signing it agree not to contact or solicit or obtain clients of another business or sometimes employees of that business. Typically, nonsolicitation agreements will occur either in the sale of a business, where the buyer of the business wants to ensure that it retains the clientele and…

The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing requires that there is an implied duty in contract to act in a manner that’s honest under the contractual relationship and it’s implied in all contractual relationships.

A covenant not to compete is a promise not to compete. Any time the word covenant is used, covenant is simply a promise. A covenant not to compete is a contractual obligation or a promise not to compete against someone or a company. Typically, non-compete covenants occur in employment contexts where an employer wants to…

Interference with contractual relations is a business tort, and it basically involves this, that there is a contractual relationship and somebody knows the contractual relationship exists, but they go ahead and try to get the person to break the contract for their own personal advantage.

Florida statutes on non-competition covenants allow courts to modify overbroad non-competition covenants. For example, a non-competition covenant restricting an employee from competing against the employer in every county in Florida is likely overbroad if the employer conducts business only in Broward County. Florida statutes, however, allow the court to modify such overbroad non-competition covenants and…

Florida law requires that courts read non-competition covenants in favor of providing reasonable protection to a company’s legitimate business interest and prohibits courts from reading the non-competition covenant narrowly against the restraint. Anarkali Boutique, Inc. v. Ortiz, 104 So. 3d 1202 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012) provides an example of just how broadly Florida courts could…

Generally, under Florida statutory law, restrictive covenants, e.g., non-competition covenants, must be signed by the person against whom the covenant will be enforced. A restrictive covenant cannot be enforced against an individual who did not sign the restrictive covenant. In Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Dolgencorp, Inc., 964 So. 2d 261 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007), Winn-Dixie…