- 8,707
Regardless what his Non-Compete says or doesn't say, there is of course a moral issue.
Think about it... I am assuming your old employer paid you either a base or commission so that you work on bringing in "their" clients? #2, put yourself in their shoes; how would you feel if you paid me, gave me back office support and everything else and when I left I started taking "your" clients... Not good right?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[quote=Norwayguy;305734]The only expert opion you will get is that of the Attorney you hire to review your contract....People on here are great but wouldn't it be nice to know what is and is not enforcable in your contract and what your down side is....You will get that from an Attorney.
Very true but the only thing you're missing is that even if an Attorney told you not to worry about it, it does not prevent me as your previous employer of suing you.
Sure, I may not get paid any damages, but are you aware of how much you will have to fork over just to attain a defense attorney?[/quote]
I agree with you...I was just telling the OP that the answers he gets he really are meaningless...
Sure you can sue regardless of what the contract states....However if the contract says there is an 18 month non-compete except in certain situations such as my last contract I had an 18 month non-compete if I was fired for cause it specifically stated the non-compete was invalid if I (forgive this layman term) resigned of my own free will....I didn't write the contract they did...Can they sue, you betcha would it get much further than a cease and decease letter, possibly the could take it further would they survice summary judgement...In my case no they wouldn't....Would it still be a major pain in the a$$..yes it would.
I also look at it a little differently...I associated with a firm as a licensed individual and was paid as an independent contractor and was paid commission only and had to develop my own clients...they recieved an override on every sale...I don't see as they paid me anything but as I provided them income.
That being said I have honored my previous contracts. I suggested the op contact an attorney to review the contract because what I or you or the poster think it says could definatly say differently. And personally if the contract allows him to do something after the contract is terminated then he should be aware of that and may want to avail himself of it...Because he only signed the contract they created it.