In Brief
Following on from our earlier article regarding
Preserving your business through restraint of trade clauses,
the New South Wales Supreme Court has recently handed down a
decision which provides valuable insight into the approach that the
judiciary takes to enforcing restraint of trade clauses.
Seven Network (Operations) Ltd 7 ors v James Warburton
(No 2) [2011] NSWSC 386
James Warburton, a highly skilled and talented television
executive, was employed by the Seven Network
[Seven] as the Chief Sales & Digital Officer
under a fixed term contract due to expire on 14 October 2011.
Mr Warburton was considered the natural successor as Chief
Executive Officer of Seven but seized an opportunity to become the
Chief Executive Officer at Network 10 with a commencement date of
14 July 2011. Having accepted this offer on 2 March 2011 and
communicated the situation to Seven, they reacted by requiring Mr
Warburton to leave their premises and sought to enforce a
