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Articles Tagged with Miami Dade Non Compete Attorney

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Florida statutes on non-competition covenants allow courts to modify overbroad non-competition covenants.  For example, a non-competition covenant restricting an employee from competing against the employer in every county in Florida is likely overbroad if the employer conducts business only in Broward County.  Florida statutes, however, allow the court to modify such overbroad non-competition covenants and grant “reasonably necessary” relief, i.e., modify the covenant to apply only to Broward County.

Under Florida contract law, however, courts generally will not rewrite the terms of a contract.  Although Florida statutory law allows courts to modify overbroad non-competition covenants, Florida courts have otherwise refrained from rewriting non-competition covenants.

In Advantage Digital Sys. v. Digital Imaging Servs., 870 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), two employees were bound by non-competition covenants that restricted them from “soliciting” the employer’s customers.  The trial court found the non-competition covenants enforceable and ordered that the employees were prohibited from “having any contact, whatsoever, with any customers of [the employer].”  Advantage Digital Sys., 870 So. 2d at 114-15.  On appeal, the appellate court disagreed with the trial court’s order.  The appellate court held that the trial court’s order went “far beyond prohibiting solicitation” and “essentially and impermissibly rewrites the parties’ agreements by disallowing any ‘contact’ with [the employer’s] customer.  …  Because the noncompetition agreements prohibit only solicitation, that is the only activity that can be the subject” of the court’s order.  Advantage Digital Sys., 870 So. 2d at 115.

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Florida law requires that courts read non-competition covenants in favor of providing reasonable protection to a company’s legitimate business interest and prohibits courts from reading the non-competition covenant narrowly against the restraint.  Anarkali Boutique, Inc. v. Ortiz, 104 So. 3d 1202 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012) provides an example of just how broadly Florida courts could read a non-competition agreement.

In Anarkali, a worker entered into a non-competition covenant with a company in 2008 as part of an employment agreement.  The non-competition covenant restricted the worker from competing with the company for a 2-year term beginning when the worker is “no longer employed by Company.”  Anarkali Boutique, Inc., 104 So. 3d at 1203.  In 2009, the worker’s status with the company changed from employee to independent contractor.  Two years later, in 2011, the worker left the company and opened a competing business.  The company sued to enforce the non-competition covenant.

The trial court found that because the 2-year term of the non-competition covenant would begin to run when the worker was “no longer employed by Company,” the 2-year term began to run in 2009, i.e., when the worker ceased being an employee of the company.  Consequently, the 2-year term expired in 2011, i.e., before the worker opened her own competing business.  Therefore, the trial court held that the non-competition covenant had expired and the company could not now enforce the non-competition covenant.  On appeal, the appellate court disagreed.

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Generally, under Florida statutory law, restrictive covenants, e.g., non-competition covenants, must be signed by the person against whom the covenant will be enforced.  A restrictive covenant cannot be enforced against an individual who did not sign the restrictive covenant.

In Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Dolgencorp, Inc., 964 So. 2d 261 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007), Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. (“Winn-Dixie”) entered into a lease with a landlord that granted Winn-Dixie the exclusive right to sell groceries at a particular shopping plaza.  The restrictive covenant in the lease stated that other stores in the plaza could sell groceries only if they did not devote more than 500 square feet to those groceries.  Thereafter, Dolgencorp, Inc. (“Dolgencorp”) leased a location at the plaza and devoted more than 500 square feet to grocery items.  Winn-Dixie sued to enforce the restrictive covenant.  Dolgencorp argued that because it never signed the restrictive covenant, the covenant could not be enforced against Dolgencorp under Florida law.  While the trial court agreed with Dolgencorp, the appellate court found that the restrictive covenant was enforceable against Dolgencorp even though Dolgencorp never signed the covenant.  The appellate court’s decision is rooted in the distinction between personal covenants and real covenants.

A personal covenant is a provision in a contract that creates personal contractual obligations.  For example, a restrictive covenant contained in an employment agreement is a personal covenant.  On the other hand, a real covenant is a provision contained in transaction involving real property—for example, a restrictive covenant contained in a lease of real property.  Generally, if a real covenant touches and  involves the land and was meant to bind all subsequent purchasers of the land, then the real covenant is said to “run with the land” and will bind all subsequent purchasers or lessees of the land who had notice of the covenant.

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Under Florida law, non-competition covenants are generally enforceable if they protect one or more legitimate business interest.  However, certain acts by the employer could defeat the enforceability of the non-competition covenant.  Under contract law, a party’s material breach of a contract will render the entire contract unenforceable against the other party.  In other words, if an employer materially breaches the employment contract—i.e., if the employer fails to pay wages or commissions in accordance with the employment contract—the employee will be released from the non-competition covenant.  There is an exception to that general rule: independent non-competition covenants.

If the non-competition provision of an employment contract is considered “independent,” then the employer’s breach of the employment contract will not affect the non-competition covenant’s enforceability.  Essentially, the independent non-competition covenant will be considered a separate contract.  A Florida district court recently shed some light on what contractual language would suffice to render a non-competition covenant “independent.”

In Richland Towers v. Denton, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 3472 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 12, 2014), an employer, Richland Towers, sued to enforce its non-competition covenants with two former employees who started a competing business.  Richland Towers, however, failed to pay those employees certain bonuses that were required under the employment contract.  The trial court found that Richland Towers’ failure to pay the contractually required bonuses constituted a prior material breach that essentially destroyed the entire employment contract and released the employees from the non-competition covenant.  The appellate court disagreed.

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