You Can't Unring A Bell

Consider the following: An employer hires and trains an employee. In the course of fulfilling his or her job responsibilities, the employee becomes familiar with valuable information that the employer needs to keep confidential. The employee then resigns and goes to work for a competitor, taking that valuable information along.

The above is a textbook example of why employers require employees to sign noncompete agreements ("NCAs"). NCAs prohibit former employees from taking certain types of positions with competitors for specified periods of time. If the employee violates an NCA, the employer can sue for breach.

However, the wheels of justice turn slowly, and once an employer's valuable information is known by its competitors, the genie is out of the bottle. To guard against this risk, employers can seek a temporary restraining order ("TRO") and a preliminary injunction ("PI") prohibiting the employee from violating the NCA. while the case is pending. This