rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (04/21/84)
A question on non-competition clauses of the sort in which you agree, if
you leave a particular job, not to work in that field (or geographical
area), etc.: I once heard that they were essentially not enforceable, the
given reason being that there are certain legal rights you can't give up
(called "unconscionable clauses" in a contract), and that somehow "giving
up the right to make a living (in your profession)" fell into this class.
I don't know if this is actually true - I'd like to hear a qualified
opinion from someone who understands the law or who has been through a case
of this sort.
In any event, I think it's pretty shoddy for an employer to make such
requests of an employee - this is going a long way beyond assigning patent
rights while you're employed and not disclosing company secrets. If the
employer mistrusts you that much, can you trust him? I also think it's
foolish to agree in writing to something that you don't accept, on the
basis that you don't think they'll use it or that it isn't enforceable.
Don't bet against yourself!
--
...Are you making this up as you go along? Dick Dunn
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303) 444-5710 x3086ward@hao.UUCP (Mike Ward) (04/23/84)
[]
A few years ago a doctor (of medicine) in Boulder, CO was driven out
of town by the local medical business community. They used the courts
and a non-competition clause to do it. I don't know how high he appealed,
but he is not practicing in Boulder right now.
In Boulder, they don't practice medicine, they run run a business.
(With a few *very* notable exceptions.)
(and, yes, the medical business community is actively trying to harrass
and otherwise run these exceptions out of town, too)
--
Michael Ward, NCAR/SCD
UUCP: {hplabs,nbires,brl-bmd,seismo,menlo70,stcvax}!hao!ward
BELL: 303-497-1252
USPS: POB 3000, Boulder, CO 80307mpr@mb2c.UUCP (Mark Reina) (04/23/84)
Non-competition clauses may or may not be enforceable. It depends on the skill of the party involved or any special knowledge that person might have. For example, it is is not a shoddy practice or expectation for Coca Cola to expect its personnel not to work for Pepsi cola, especially and only if they have knowledge of the secret formula.
mpr@mb2c.UUCP (Mark Reina) (04/24/84)
I recently read the story of a poor Boulder, CO medical doctor. On the net, it appears that the courts enforced a non-competition clause and consequently forced the doctor out of Boulder. This story lacks much necesarry information before the reader can fully appreciate what the writer has on his mind. First, is this a veiled criticism of a non-competition clause. Secondly, is this a laudation of the non-competition clause. I find reading these third person recounts most distressing. Did the doctor willingly sign a contract containing a non-com- petition clause? Was the doctor a specialist? How big is Boulder? How many doctors are there in Boulder? Was the doctor really barred from practicing in Boulder? Did the doctor move away or practice elsewhere of his volition? True these are tedious questions. Possibly they avoid a more dramatic conclusion than can be imagined without there resolution. However, the practice of law and completion of litigation would both require and demand answers to such questions. Without the answers readers of the net, as well as judges and juries, can not ascertain whether equity was served.
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (04/24/84)
References: <386@opus.UUCP> hao.932, <243@mb2c.UUCP> In reference to the Doctor in Boulder. The Doctor had joined a practicing group in a clinic. He did indeed sign a contract which contained a clause which said that if he left the clinic, he would be unable to practice in the county in which Boulder is in. It seems that after several years, the administrator of the clinic (not a Doctor) decided that Doctor X was not bringing in enough cash to the group. The Doctor was warned that he would have to increase his patient load to bring his revenues up to what they thought it should be. The Doctor refused to compromise his patients care by giving them less time. After a standoff, the administrator and the other Doctors told Doctor X he would have to leave the clinic. The crux of the problem was that he did not leave on his own, but was asked to leave and therefor believed that the non-comp clause invalid. He opened an office in Boulder. Many on his former patients followed him, much to the displeasure of the clinic crowd. The clinic then decided to go to court. They won in court so that Doctor X had to move his practice out of the county. The patients still followed him. I think that this case is working its way up to the Supreme Court. The whole affair was aired last year on TV. The clinic crew and their administrative lackey came off in a very bad light. They were arrogant and seemed self serving to the nth degree. I hope Doc X wins in the final analysis. In the meantime, there was a time-limit clause in the contract which lapses sometime soon. T. C. Wheeler