martindale.com
Legal Library
|
Emerging from the Marsh: The Texas Supreme Court Clarifies and Solidifies the Enforcement of Non-Compete Agreements in the Employment Context by Katie Chatterton
Haynes and Boone, LLP - Houston Office
Meghaan McElroy
Haynes and Boone, LLP - Houston Office
Dean J. Schaner
Haynes and Boone, LLP - Houston Office
|
|
August 17, 2011
Previously published on August 15, 2011
Here we go again! For the third time in less than six years, the Texas Supreme Court has repudiated technical legal niceties and has adopted broad pro-employer principles to support the enforcement of non-competition agreements in Texas. Marsh USA, Inc. v. Cook, 54 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1234 (Tex. 2011). Eschewing footnotes and dicta from a prior opinion issued in 1994, the Court reasoned that an employer’s grant of stock options to an executive employee constituted sufficient consideration to support the enforcement of a non-solicitation of customers provision (in an employment agreement) against a former executive when he jumped ship to work for a competitor. The Marsh decision essentially demonstrates that confidential/trade secret information and specialized training are not the exclusive forms of employer-generated consideration necessary to enforce non-competition and non-solicitation of customer restrictions in Texas. And, in turn, the practical takeaway is that employers will find it far easier to enforce non-competition/non-solicitation agreements under Texas law.
|
The views expressed in this document are solely the views of the author and not Martindale-Hubbell. This document is intended for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for consultation with a licensed legal professional in a particular case or circumstance. |
| | View More Library Documents By... | | | |
| | | | Haynes and Boone, LLP Overview |
Practice Area Resource Centers
|
|