Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Non-competition, or non-compete, clauses are a common part of business and employment agreements. They serve to prevent one party from taking knowledge or trade secrets to a competing business. Like any contract, these agreements are sometimes scrutinized to make sure they are actually fair to all parties. Courts will not uphold such clauses that are so limiting as to be unjust. In 2017, the Fifth Circuit of Louisiana considered such an agreement.
The parties to this case, Frederick Yorsch and Stephen Morel, were business partners in Metairie, Louisiana. They ran NOLA Title Company, L.L.C., which provided services related to the selling of real estate, such as title insurance. They also began a separate company, My Tax Sale Resources, L.L.C., which provided tax services related to real property sales. Both parties signed an agreement that included a non-circumvention and non-competition clause. At some point, Mr. Morel began working for CivicSource, a competing company. Mr. Yorsch, the plaintiff, sought to have the court enforce the clauses within their agreement with an injunction . The trial court ruled that the clauses were too restrictive on employment opportunities and were unenforceable. Mr. Yorsch appealed.
The issue for the Fifth Circuit was whether such broadly written clauses are impermissible. Louisiana law, as a policy, seeks to prevent people from losing their ability to work. Restored Surfaces, Inc. v. Sanchez, 82 So.3d 524 (La. Ct. App. 2011). Thus, courts will not enforce any contract or agreement that would restrain anyone from “exercising a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind” except in very specific circumstances. La. R.S. 23:921. One exception is that members of limited liability companies may agree not to be involved in similar business as the company of which they are members within a certain parish or municipality. La. R.S. 23:921(L).
Benjamin Franklin had good reason to make the statement, “neither a borrower nor a lender be.” The potential for risk on either side of the transaction is significant. Be it the likelihood of not getting paid, or the possibility that you will not be able to repay the debt, many find that it is better to avoid the perils of money lending altogether. But that is just not practical. The way big plans are realized is often with money we do not yet have. And loaning money at interest is usually a great short-term investment, if you have the cash to spare. How do we assure our debt agreements will hold up in court?
Terms of Sale commonly include an “escape clause,” which gives the buyer a way out of a contract if unplanned circumstances arise. It is often a lawyer’s obligation to ensure that this clause is present in a contract, because if the lawyer fails to include one, this could result in malpractice. However, in order to receive recovery from the malpractice, the aggrieved party must promptly bring a lawsuit. The Longs family of Long’s Preferred Products, Inc. in Alexandria, LA, learned this the hard way when they sued their lawyer in the Ninth Judicial District Court Parish of Rapides for not including an escape clause in a stock purchase.
Running a small business is a challenging endeavor that can prove even more difficult if someone publishes false information about your company. This is situation is exactly what happened to husband and wife Robbie and Susan Arnaud, owners of Robbie’s Wrecker Service, a towing business located just outside Eunice, Louisiana.
There is no shortage of frivolous lawsuits. As a result, courts have developed many different ways to nip these sorts of lawsuits in the bud. One way is by allowing defendants to file an exception of no cause action, which is essentially a request that asks the court to drop the plaintiff’s lawsuit because there is no factual support to justify the lawsuit. In the case below, the plaintiff truly believed she was wronged by her employer, but because the facts she provided in her lawsuit did not support a valid claim, her lawsuit was ultimately denied. So, how can you avoid your lawsuit being dismissed by no cause of action in Louisiana? 
Summary judgment is a legal procedure courts may use to dispose of a case when there are not enough facts in dispute to proceed with a lawsuit. This is a good strategy to use when applicable because it purges certain claims that have no merit, saving time and money. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal demonstrated the principles of summary judgment within the context of an employment discrimination lawsuit when it comes to untimely filing. 
A non-compete agreement often takes the form of a clause in an employment contract whereby an employer seeks to restrict a former employee’s ability to compete with the employer after the employment relationship is terminated. These types of clauses are usually valid if they are reasonable in scope, time, and area and line of business. But, what happens happens when someone ignores a non-compete agreement in Louisiana?
Contracts between parties working toward a common goal can sometimes result in detail-oriented litigation when something goes wrong. When those parties need to subcontract with a third party, the responsibility for that third party if something goes wrong can be a point of contention.
Louisiana citizens interact with contract law every day, in many cases without even realizing it. Whether buying groceries at a supermarket with a credit card or installing a new iPhone app, countless purchases are governed by consumer agreements. What may be even less known to purchasers is that many of these agreements include an arbitration clause, which provides that any disputes arising out of that agreement must be handled by an arbitrator rather than a court. Arbitration is a form of “alternative dispute resolution” in which an arbitrator — typically a certified attorney — evaluates the parties’ claims and renders a binding decision as to who should prevail. In general, companies prefer arbitration because it costs less than litigation. But because the rules of arbitration can vary significantly from the rules of court, the consumer does not always benefit from being kept away from the courthouse. The validity of arbitration clauses is a common point of contention. Although Louisiana generally favors arbitration, the legislature has enacted the Louisiana Arbitration Act (“LLA”) (
A non-compete clause is a common feature in many employment agreements in Louisiana. The clause is a way for an employer to restrict an employee from going to work for a competitor and thus potentially harming the original employer. Most non-compete clauses, in order to be enforceable, must contain some limitation as to time and geographical location.