Monthly Archives: October 2007

This week’s ruling in the ongoing Howie Carr saga, despite the current media splash, essentially maintains the status quo in the case. At issue was Carr’s emergency motion for reconsideration of an earlier order — described here — refusing to invalidate the exercise by Carr’s long-time employer — Entercom — of a right of first refusal. The effect of that ruling was to continue Carr’s employment with an employer he wishes to leave and to place him at risk of significant damages if he refuses to return to his job and/or tries to take another job.… More

A discussion in a BusinessWeek article this week on the telecom giant Sprint’s search for a new CEO raises an interesting question:  have U.S. businesses gone too far in binding their most senior executives to non-compete and other restrictive agreements?  In discussing the Sprint board’s search to replace its current CEO in the wake of poor company performance, the article reports that Sprint has “cast its line overseas not only to broaden the pool of strong candidates but to avoid the snare of noncompete contracts often held by executives who have worked at other U.S.… More

While it remains quite difficult to predict whether a Massachusetts judge will enforce any given restrictive covenant in a particular case, close observers of recent Massachusetts noncompete decisions would note that judges increasingly are reluctant to enforce post-employment restrictions against "the little guy" — as contrasted with senior, highly-compensated managers.  A recent insurance-industry dispute exemplifies this trend.  In Banc of America Corporate Insurance Agency, LLC v. Verille,… More