How Some NY Non-Solicitation Agreements Go Too Far
Some non-solicitation agreements will be upheld by New York's courts; others won't.
"So where is line drawn?" you ask.
Although these are typically fact-specific inquiries, here are the general rules, as articulated by New York's appellate courts:
An employer may legitimately try to protect its investment in creating and maintaining its goodwill and customer base through the use of a non-solicitation agreement. However - and this is a big HOWEVER - there is an important caveat to this rule:
A non-solicitation agreement will be deemed unenforceable where it seeks to prevent a former employee from dealing with the employer's entire client base, including clients that the defendant never serviced, nor acquired any relationship with while employed by the plaintiff. See, e.g., Stackrow & Co. v. Skavina, 9 AD3d 805, 806 (3d Dept. 2004); Good Energy, L.P. v. Kosachuk, 49 AD3d 331, 332 (1st Dept. 2008).
In other words, such an agreement would be deemed going "too far," and would not be enforceable.
Category: General
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