The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has found that employees can breach their duty of loyalty to their employers and tortiously interfere with a business expectancy by competing against their employer for the...more
This week, the Court addresses the constitutionality of a law protecting housing access for people with criminal histories, and the elements of a per se unlawful group boycott under the Sherman Antitrust Act....more
After a few quiet weeks, last week produced a number of stories that caught our attention and made it into our weekly Update, including two interesting stories on customer reviews. Enjoy....more
In 2021, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued two decisions addressing when a contractual party’s affiliates are bound to restrictive covenants in an agreement. In the first case, Sixth Street Partners Management Company,...more
In 1995, the California Supreme Court held that a plaintiff pursuing a claim for interference with a prospective contractual or economic relationship had to plead that the defendant's conduct was wrongful. Della Penna v....more
On August 3, 2020, the California Supreme Court held in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc. that tortious interference with at-will contracts requires establishing wrongful conduct independent of interference itself. 9 Cal....more
The American economy’s capitalist features promote the need for healthy business competition. One of the judiciary’s jobs has been to draw lines as to when that competition goes too far, without stifling legitimate...more
Called upon by the Ninth Circuit in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc. to answer two key questions concerning the validity of a settlement provision requiring a party’s termination of a collaboration agreement with a...more
The most powerful tool capable of invalidating competitive restraints under California law is Business and Professions Code section 16600. That statute states that “[e]very contract by which anyone is restrained from...more
On March 3, 2020, Massachusetts Premier Soccer LLC, doing business as Global Premier Soccer (“GPS”), filed a complaint in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleging that two of its former...more
Tax service franchisor, H&R Block, was recently vindicated in having terminated a franchisee for violating an in-term non-compete covenant. A United States District Court granted the franchisor summary judgment in Devore v....more
On March 27, 2018, the Third Circuit affirmed dismissal of an antitrust suit against Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) by the Philadelphia Taxi Association and its members, individual taxicab companies (together,...more
Tennessee recognizes the tort of interference with prospective business relations. But there’s an exception for competitors. One who intentionally causes a third person not to enter into a prospective contractual...more