Starting A Competing Business Without Noncompetition Agreement

We represented an individual with experience in the commercial cleaning business who had left his employer to start a competing business after years of being underpaid. When he resigned, our client informed his boss what he planned to do and was offered help getting started. Some months later, after several customers terminated cleaning services contracts with the former company, our client received a demand letter under a years-old agreement that included limited noncompetition language. Despite the fact that he did not believe the agreement barred him from competing, our client had been respectful in his business dealings. He had expressly avoided soliciting customers from the old company and had not in fact performed services for any of them at the time he received a demand letter with a threat of a lawsuit.

Result:  We reviewed the terms of our client’s prior working relationship and determined that no valid noncompetition agreement existed. We responded to the demand letter on his behalf, successfully persuading his former company to drop the issue, and helped him to continue building his own successful cleaning business.