Our client, an attorney, was accused by one of his former clients of breaching fiduciary duties by sharing confidential client documents and information with a former employee of the former client. This accusation was made after the former employee made use of certain documents in a lawsuit that the former employee had filed against the
Our client paid a fee to a company that was to provide certain services. The contract stated that the fee would be refunded if certain specified goals were not met by certain dates. When those performance goals were not met, our client gave notice as required by the contract and requested the promised refund several
Our client, a salesman, was sued by his former employer who claimed that he had violated his non-compete agreement by using confidential information to unfairly compete. The damages sought exceeded $500,000. After a temporary injunction was granted against our client and his new employer, we employed a strategy that focused on attacking the enforceability of
This dispute was between business partners over how to divide up monies received from the sale of oil and gas leases. Our client claimed he was owed $1.1M based on his ownership interest in the selling company, but his business partners felt that he had not contributed enough to the project to earn that much
Our client, the former CEO of a defunct Louisiana company, was sued in Texas by a vendor who claimed that our client was personally liable for the company’s falure to pay for products that the vendor had delivered to the company. The vendor sued our client in Texas, even though he was not a resident
After a long history of not allowing damages for loss of the companionship of a pet, a Texas court, in Medlen v. Strickland, 353 S.W.3d 576 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 2011), has finally decided that dogs do in fact have a sentimental value that supports the awarding of damages. Since the Texas Supreme Court’s decision in Heiligmann v. Rose, which was decided in
EMPLOYERS WIN ANOTHER NON-COMPETITION BATTLE The Texas Supreme Court has issued another opinion favoring the employer where the issue is the enforceability of an agreement that restricts an employee’s ability to compete after employment has terminated. This opinion is the latest in what appears to be a trend toward finding a rationale to support
MINORITY OWNERS’ RIGHTS CONTINUE TO EXPAND Texas courts recognize that majority owners in private companies must deal fairly with their minority owners or face claims for minority shareholder oppression. Texas courts have approved the following as acts of shareholder oppression: malicious oppression of dividends (starving out the little guys), personal use of corporate funds
The Texas Covenant Not to Compete Act requires that the time, geographic area, and scope of activity limitations of a covenant not to compete be reasonable. By reasonable, it is meant that the restriction must not impose a restraint on the former employee that is greater than is necessary to protect the goodwill or other
If you are an employer, you need to be careful what you say about ex-employees and who you say it to. In Downing v. Burns, a recent 14th Court of Appeals decision, Deborah Downing resigned from her job as an assistant to Don Burns. After she resigned Don Burn’s attorney wrote Deborah Downing a letter accusing her
