Be careful about accidentally hiring employees with noncompete agreements, warns Sarah Izfar of Seyfarth Shaw in a recent blog post. She uses the case of DePuy Synthes Sales v. Jones, in which the court just denied a motion to dismiss, to demonstrate how an employer risks legal liability for tortious interference of contract and business conspiracy under Virginia law.
In this case, two employees from an orthopedic medical device company left and began working for a competitor, in violation of their noncompete agreements. The first company filed suit and alleged the second tortiously interfered with its business operations and also claimed statutory civil conspiracy.
