Erik Hanson, Philip Hammersley, Darren Inverso and Derrick Maginness, of Norton, Hammersley, Lopez & Skokos, P.A.
Photo by Enrique Pino
Avoiding Costly Disputes Over Non-Compete Agreements By Sue Engelhart
An owner’s right to protect a business that took years to build through prudent investment of financial and intellectual capital, painstaking relationship building with customers, and a lot of very hard work seems self evident. The reality of actually protecting legitimate business interests that give a company its competitive edge is far more complex, particularly when it comes to enforcing non-compete and other agreements designed to defend those interests.
58
SCENE
|
“We are seeing a lot of disagreements arising
Hammersley, along with shareholder Darren
with business owners and former partners, employ-
Inverso and associates Erik Hanson and Derrick
ees, or independent contractors, and it’s getting to
Maginness have seen the issue from both sides, hav-
be a big dispute area that is not cut and dried,” said
ing represented companies seeking to protect busi-
attorney Philip Hammersley, shareholder of Norton,
ness interests and individuals who do not want to
Hammersley, Lopez and Skokos, a Sarasota law firm
be bound by overly restrictive agreements. “Some
concentrating in business, tax, real estate, trial prac-
employers have the misconception that they are
tice, and dispute resolution. “Restraint of trade is
protected because they have a paragraph in their
unlawful, but at the same time, owners do not want
employee agreement. Sometimes they obtained the
someone out in the industry disclosing processes
verbiage on the Internet or wrote it themselves, and
and formulas or all their connections with suppliers,
there are questions about whether it is enforceable,”
customers, and manufacturers.”
Inverso said. “With these agreements, an employer
April 2016