Pleading A Non-Compete Claim: Sometimes The Bare Minimum Is Just Enough

There is no such thing as "per se" unenforceability of non-compete agreements (with a few notable exceptions). Instead, a court will enforce a non-compete if it meets whatever criteria a particular jurisdiction establishes – those criteria typically involve some combination of facts that show that a post-employment covenant is reasonably tailored to protect an employer's legitimate business interests. But if you don't plead the facts to support those legitimate interests, you may find yourself on the wrong side of a motion to dismiss. That was almost, but not quite, the result in Installed Building Products, LLC v. Cottrell, a recent Western District of New York case, where the court found that a plaintiff sufficiently alleged the minimum of facts necessary to advance its non-compete claims against its former employee and his new employer.