The attorneys at Saade Law Firm, P.A. are zealous advocates for clients

Providing them with personalized legal services and legal assistance to support them while starting, operating, and defending their business. Clients can trust Saade Law to look after their interests and help them navigate through complex legal processes in the ever-changing legal landscape. Saade Law, headquartered in Coral Gables, FL, is a full-service law firm offering businesses, individuals, property owners, and entrepreneurs a comprehensive suite of services for all their legal needs, including employment matters, real estate litigation, and more.

In this article we will examine Saade Law’s representation of Company X, a prominent Florida-based orthotics and prosthetics company that chose Saade Law to represent and defend them in legal matters and litigation that posed a potential risk to their business. Company X provides important prosthetics and orthotic care to amputees and other applicable clients and/or companies. A technology, science, and innovation-driven field that comes with many trade secrets, and so as to protect these trade secrets, employees sign on-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements. A company employee named Nancy (name has been changed for privacy and confidentiality purposes) made the decision to resign from her position at Company X and accept employment at a competing company, which was in direct violation of the abovementioned signed agreements. Before we look deeper into the case, let’s define what each of the agreements means and why they are important when running a business. 

Non-Compete Agreement 

A non-compete agreement is a clause in a contract specifying that an employee must not enter into competition with an employer during and after the employment period is terminated. These types of agreements effectively prohibit the employee from disclosing proprietary information to third parties during or after employment. Many employers require their employees to sign a non-compete to preserve their place in the market.  Usually, the contract outlines how long the employee must refrain from working with a competing company in a specific market or geographic location. 

Non-Solicitation Agreement 

In a similar vein as a non-compete, a non-solicitation agreement is a contract clause that outlines that an employee cannot solicit any business clients, employees, or use confidential information from their previous employer. In essence, it prohibits the employee from using old company contacts to benefit a competing company. In most cases, these agreements cover a designated geographical area over a specified period of time. 

Non-Disclosure Agreement

Most commonly known as NDA, a non-disclosure agreement is a legally binding contract that establishes a confidential relationship between the party or parties signing it. This means that the party or parties signing it agree that sensitive or confidential information they obtain is not to be made available to others. NDAs are extremely common for businesses when entering into negotiations with other businesses, as it allows them to freely share information without fear that it will fall into the hands of competitors. Employers often require employees to sign these confidentiality agreements to protect confidential information pertaining to their business, technologies, processes, and more. 

Going back to the case of Company X, Nancy was in direct violation of the three above-mentioned signed agreements when she accepted an offer from a competing company. To protect the integrity and competitiveness of their business, Company X sued both the employee, Nancy, and the competing business to prevent them from using confidential information Nancy obtained during her tenure at Company X. Using this information would be in direct violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Practices Act (FDUPA). This act prohibits the unfair and deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce. Under FDUPA, the courts have defined ‘trade or commerce’ as several things, including advertising, soliciting, providing, offering, or distributing any good or service by sale, rental, or otherwise.  FDUPA is intended to “protect the consuming public and legitimate business enterprises from those who engage in unfair methods of competition, or unconscionable, deceptive, or unfair acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce.” In the state of Florida, unfair and deceptive trade practices are those that are considered unethical, unscrupulous, and dishonest, and seek to take advantage of the consumer. This includes false advertising, misleading sales pitches, or failing to disclose important information about a product or service. 

The Saade Law Firm P.A. handled the case on behalf of their client, Client X, and was granted summary judgment against the Defendants. A summary judgment is a judgment entered by a court as a matter of law for one party against another party without a full trial being conducted. The dedicated professionals at Saade Law managed to collect approximately $630,000.00 in damages in addition to an amount of $60,000.00 in attorney’s fees and costs.

The legal team at Saade Law have vast legal and practical business experience to support and defend your company. Contact us today.

DISCLAIMER

In the interest of privacy and confidentiality, the names of companies, organizations, or people mentioned in this article have been modified. Any similarity to actual businesses or people, living or defunct, is entirely coincidental. The altered names are used solely for illustrative purposes and do not reflect the real identities of the companies or people involved.