Labor & Employment Law

Dallas Noncompete Attorney: Texas Supreme Court Makes Agreements Easier to Enforce

Posted on May 16, 2009
  The Texas Supreme Court recently made it even easier to enforce noncompete agreements.  Ever since the court's opinion in the Sheshunoff case, it has been an open question whether, to be enforceable, a noncompete agreement must contain an explicit promise by the employer to provide confidential information to the employee...

Non-solicitation provisions must bear relation to employees' activities

Posted on March 23, 2009
  A recurring issue in employee mobility cases is the extent to which a non-solicitation provision in an employment contract is enforceable. Typically, an employment agreement will contain a provision prohibiting post-employment competition, provisions prohibiting post-employment solicitation of customers and/or employees, or both...

Texas Non-Compete Agreements: Is A Promise to Provide Confidential Information Required Anymore?

Posted on December 22, 2008
pnbsp;/p pA recurring issue in non-compete cases involves how definite the employer's promise to provide confidential information must be for the agreement to be enforceable.nbsp; Historically, disputes have focused on whether an explicit promise to provide the information was required, or whether an implied promise (e...

Texas Non-Compete Agreements: Confidential Information Need Not Rise to Level of Trade Secret

Posted on October 01, 2008
A recent case from the federal court in Dallas sheds some light on various issues involving the enforceability of non-compete agreements. In Staples, Inc. v. Sandler, No. 3:07-CV-0928-K, 2008 WL 4107656 (N.D. Tex. Aug. 29, 2008), the employee, Sandler, upon joining Staples, Inc...

To access blog feed reader register for free. (You will also learn about new ways to read and access the freshest law blogs.)

Texas NonCompete Agreements: Court Rules Explicit Promise Not Required

Posted on July 29, 2008
  Almost two years ago, in the Sheshunoff case, the Texas Supreme Court rejected the notion that an employer must provide the employee with confidential information at the precise moment the non-compete agreement is signed for the agreement to be enforceable...

Texas Trade Secret Law: Application of Law in Chemical Formula Cases

Posted on June 23, 2008
A recent case from the Dallas Court of Appeals explains several concepts that frequently come up in trade secret theft cases. In Global Water Group, Inc. v. Atchley, No. 05-06-00709-CV, 2008 WL 384436 (Tex. App.--Dallas 2008, no pet. h.), the plaintiff had created a water purification system...

Texas Noncompete Agreements Enforceable? More Clarification on How Definite Promise to Provide Must Be

Posted on May 19, 2008
 A recent opinion issued by the federal Southern District of Texas sheds a little light on the question of how definite a promise to provide confidential information must be for a noncompete agreement to be enforceable. In Teel v. Hospital Partners of America Inc...

Texas Breach of Fiduciary Duty Law: Mere Silence Can Constitute Breach

Posted on December 12, 2007
It’s long been the law in Texas that an employee can, while still employed, prepare to compete with his employer, as long as he doesn’t actually do so. If he does compete with his employer, he can be found liable for breach of fiduciary duty...

Texas Non-Compete Law: Can Duration of Non-Compete Agreements be "Equitably Extended"?

Posted on October 30, 2007
In a recent Texas case involving a restrictive covenant, the plaintiff contended that the duration of the non-compete covenant should be judicially extended beyond the agreement’s normal expiration date. In that case, the seller of a dance studio entered into an agreement in which she promised not to compete with the buyer...

Texas Trade Secret Law: When Your New Employee Knows Too Much

Posted on October 29, 2007
Not infrequently, whenever an employer hires a competitor’s ex-employee, the competitor sues not only its ex-employee (for an alleged non-compete violation, breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference, etc...

Texas Noncompete Agreements: Effect of Employer Breach

Posted on October 22, 2007
What happens if an employer seeking to enforce a non-compete agreement is itself in breach of the agreement.  Does the employer's previous breach adversely affect its ability to enforce the non-compete?  Maybe. It's "hornbook" law in Texas that one party to a contract is precluded from enforcing a contract if that party itself is in “material” breach...

Texas Executive Employment Agreements: Checklist for Employees

Posted on October 16, 2007
Employees signing employment agreements in Texas should be mindful of the following potential terms:            1.         Term of Employment. Employment agreements are typically either for a fixed term or are at-will...

What Does "Solicitation" Mean?

Posted on September 28, 2007
Texas non-compete agreements frequently contain non-solicitation provisions, i.e., provisions that prohibit the employee, both during employment, and for a period of time thereafter, from soliciting the employer’s clients, employees, or both.  But whether a particular act or communication constitutes solicitation is not always clear...

Texas Physician Noncompete Agreements: Checklist for Physicians

Posted on August 31, 2007
In our practice we see many disputes between doctors and their employers from both sides of the fence. Quite often these disputes are between practices or institutions and doctors who are just “hitting their stride,” developing loyal patients and looking at their practice options for the future...

Will YouTube Subject Apple to Copyright Infringement Claim?

Posted on August 20, 2007
Here's an interesting article about Apple's possible liability for copyright infringement due to the ability of its iPhone to play YouTube videos: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9745198-7.html

Enforceable Noncompete Agreements: Is At-Will Employment Really "Illusory"?

Posted on July 16, 2007
Texas courts routinely hold that at-will employment is "illusory" consideration.  Because the employer is free to terminate the employee at any time, the courts reason, giving an at-will job to someone is, legally speaking, meaningless...

Texas Unfair Competition Law: Court Rejects Tortious Interference and Participating and Assisting Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims

Posted on July 13, 2007
In July 2001, Sysco, a distributor of food service products, issued a Request for Proposal (“RFP”). Among the companies that received the RFP were Mark III and BI.Mark III and BI had a business relationship that involved them sharing information and customers...

Noncompete Agreements in Texas: Forum Selection Provisions Are Enforceable

Posted on July 13, 2007
Texas courts have long held that Texas law should determine whether non-compete agreements affecting Texas residents are enforceable.  As a result, Texas courts generally will not enforce out-of-state choice of law provisions.  However, as a recent Texas Supreme Court case illustrates, contractual forum selection provisions can alter that result...

Noncompete Agreements in Texas: Some Restrictions Are Overly Broad

Posted on July 12, 2007
Non-compete agreements routinely provide for the employer to get injunctive relief in the event the employee engages in post-employment competition. In a recent case, the agreement in question subjected the employee to potentially harsher penalties...

Conservative Victories at United States Supreme Court

Posted on June 26, 2007
By now, everyone has heard about the United States Supreme Court's scaling back of the McCain Feingold campaign finance law.  But as this article points out, the naming of John Roberts and Samuel Alito as justices--and the increased tendency of Anthony Kennedy to side with the Scalia wing of the Court--has resulted in conservative wins in several cases:http://www...

Texas Non-Solicitation Agreements Attorney: What Does it Mean to "Solicit"?

Posted on June 13, 2007
As all employment lawyers know, courts will enforce non-compete agreements only to the extent necessary to protect an employer’s legitimate interests in restraining competition.  However, courts sometimes view a provision restricting solicitation of customers much differently than a blanket non-compete restriction...

Dallas Texas Trade Secrets Attorney: Companies Face Increased Risk of Theft of Trade Secrets

Posted on June 13, 2007
This is a very interesting article about difficulties companies have in preventing misappropriation of their trade secrets.  According to the article, theft of company laptop computers, especially when traveling abroad, is a real concern, as is the loss of sensitive information to "intelligence agents" located in the United States...

Texas Securities Industry Attorney: New York Gives Absolute Privilege for NASD Form U-5

Posted on June 13, 2007
Most companies, when they terminate an employee, refuse to disclose the reason for termination to a potential subsequent employer. Companies know that disclosing the reason for termination to a third party may subject them to a defamation suit. As a result, they typically reveal only the ex-employee’s dates of employment and position held...

Physician Noncompete Employment Agreements: Bill Would Make Them Enforceable

Posted on June 12, 2007
Here's an interesting article about a proposed bill in Tennessee to make physician non-compete agreements enforceable.  The proposed bill is in reaction to a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that noncompete agreements are void unless specifically allowed by the state legislature:http://phoenix...

Texas Employment Agreements: To Obtain Reformation of Noncompete Agreements in Texas, Seek Injunctive Relief

Posted on May 30, 2007
In a recent case in Houston, the First District Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s failure to reform an overly broad covenant not to compete. The covenant was overly broad in three respects: (a) there was no geographical limitation; (b) the covenant prohibited the employee from contacting all of his former employer’s customers, not merely the customers with whom the employee personally dealt; and (c) the employee was required to pay a harsh financial penalty if any customer continued doing business with him (whether or not the employee solicited the customer)...

Texas Employment Law Blog: Trade Secret Theft Costly to American Businesses

Posted on May 22, 2007
As this article indicates, trade secret theft annually costs American businesses billions of dollars.  And, as the author notes, the theft can take years to discover.http://taosecurity.blogspot.com/2007/05/latest-plane-reading.html

Non-Compete Agreements: Increasingly Pervasive

Posted on May 18, 2007
Interesting piece on increasing pervasiveness of non-compete agreements throughout the United States:http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/04/24/noncompete/