[blindlaw] Non-compete... Binding Or Not?

[Tim Elder]

I'm just a first year law student and my advice shouldn't be taken without
extreme scrutiny and professional legal consultation That being said I'd
love to share a few ideas for you to think about that I've been looking at
in my contracts studies: 
First, I'm not sure you should be afraid of your non compete contract having
any weight on potential new employers who might want to hire you. You're the
one who signed the contract and I can't really see a situation where you're
new employer should be afraid of your old employer suing them. If you break
the contract then your old employer is going to come after you before they
can do anything to your new employer. I can't imagine why your new employer
should be hesitant to hire you unless you put them on notice about the non
compete agreement or something like that. I suppose your new employer could
be sued if you brought over a bunch of trade secrets and your new company
started making profits based on an application of those secrets but I
suppose that would be unlikely unless you are a very specialized technical
designer or someone intimately familiar with the proprietary information of
your old employer. Even then you might need to intentionally use those
proprietary secrets at the new employer.    
In general non compete agreements are only enforceable if they are
reasonable with regard to  the amount of time you are bound, the
geographical area you are limited from competing in and the specificity of
activities you are limited from doing.  If your non compete contract seems
unreasonable on any of these three levels it might not be enforceable. One
important fact to know would be if you signed the non compete agreement
before or after you started working at the old company. Another important
fact would be the reasons why you are no longer working at the company. If
you were fired or laid off after a very short period of time it might be
hard for your past employer to enforce the contract. 
This advice is extremely general and might variate slightly depending on
what state you live in. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to apply why
contracts law concepts to a real world situation. Hopefully everything works
out for you.
best regards,
 Tim Elder
U.C. Hastings law student


-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Wells
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 7:09 PM
To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindlaw] Non-compete... Binding Or Not?

Hello,

I am in need of some legal advice. I find myself in a situation where I need
a job, but I don't want my former employer scaring away potential new
employers with threats of legal action. I need to find where the limits of
the non-compete document I signed almost eight years ago are. 
This will not only help me to find suitable employment, but to also know
what jobs I may need to rule out to avoid potential trouble.

Would one or more of you be interested in reading over this document and
letting me know where I stand? Am I locked out of the industry I have worked
in for more than ten years? Are there areas where I can safely work without
fear of retribution from my former employer toward my potential new employer
or toward me?

I should probably not post this document on the list, but only to those who
directly express interest/willingness to look it over.

Thanks for any an all help on this.

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