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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    1

    Default Working for a Competitor With a Non-Compete in Effect

    I worked for a man named Charles who works in the industrial laundry business in Central City. Charles rents linens and industrial uniforms to commercial customers; the soiled linens and uniforms are picked up at regular intervals by the route drivers and replaced with clean ones. Every employee is assigned a list of customers whom they service. The contract of employment stated that in consideration of being employed, on termination of my employment, I would not “directly or indirectly engage in the linen supply business or any competitive business within Central City, Illinois, for a period of one year from the date when my employment under this contract ceases.” The next year I was fired-for valid reasons. I then accepted employment with a different Linen Service, a direct competitor of Charles in Central City. I began soliciting former customers I had called on for Charles and obtained some of them as customers for my new employer. Will Chalres be able to enforce the provisions of the contract?



    Someone showed me a case called SANCHEZ v. WESTERN PIZZA ENTERPRISES, where the plantiff was able to sue for Unconscionable Contract. Can I as well?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Was This Contract Unreasonable is There a Legal Theory I Can Use

    Your post reads a bit like a homework question. If, in fact, this is a real situation then the answer to your question is no, you cannot “sue for unconscionable contract.” You have no damages and thus nothing for which to sue. If you are sued by your former employer, you can try to raise a defense that the agreement either is not related to a legitimate business need of the employer or is unreasonable in terms of either the length of the agreement or the geographic coverage. However, in general a one year time frame limited to a single city in the state is going to be difficult to challenge. For an easy to understand discussion of agreements not to compete in Illinois, see the discussion of this topic provided by an Illinois law firm: Illinois Overview of Covenants Not to Compete.

    The case you mentioned appears to be this one: Sanchez v. Western Pizza Enterprises, 172 Cal.App.4th 154 (2009). That case does not help you at all because (1) it is a case from California, not Illinois; (2) concerns the issue of whether an arbitration agreement in an employment situation is enforceable, not whether a contract not to compete is enforceable; and (3) has since been abrogated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011) and the California Supreme Court in Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal. 4th 348, 327 P.3d 129 (2014) and thus that case is not one that may be relied upon today.

    Moreover, California law on agreements not to compete is significantly different than Illinois law on the subject. By statute, California renders nearly all covenants not to compete invalid. So California law isn’t going to be at all useful in dealing with a covenant not to compete in Illinois.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Was This Contract Unreasonable is There a Legal Theory I Can Use

    Central City, IL is a town of about 1100 people.

    Hard to believe that there are two linen service companies there.

    None show up on the map.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Was This Contract Unreasonable is There a Legal Theory I Can Use

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
    View Post
    Central City, IL is a town of about 1100 people.

    Hard to believe that there are two linen service companies there.

    None show up on the map.
    Its homework, I am just about certain of it.

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