In reviewing hundreds of non-compete agreements a year, sometimes I have to break the news to business owners that their non-compete agreements are not going
Category: Law
Are Surgery Centers’ Non-Compete Agreements Valid in Texas?
In recent years, it has become quite common for surgeons to become part owners of free-standing ambulatory surgery centers in Texas. Often, their purchase of the ownership comes with the strings attached – a requirement that they perform a certain number of surgeries at that particular ACS and that they do not compete with the ACS within a certain geographic radius.
The Fifth Circuit Says “Bye-Bye” to Conditional Certification in FLSA Collective Actions
In Swales, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals set out to clarify the “legal standard that district courts should use when deciding whether to send notice in an FLSA collective action.” Expressly rejecting the two-stage process described above, the Fifth Circuit clarified that: “Two-stage certification of § 216(b) collective actions may be common practice. But practice is not necessarily precedent. And nothing in the FLSA, nor in Supreme Court precedent interpreting it, requires or recommends (or even authorizes) any “certification” process.”
A Texas Staffing Agency Ex-Owner Indicted, Faces 15 Years in Prison for Wage Fixing for Employees
Wage-fixing, i.e., agreeing with competitors that everyone will pay the same wage or will not pay more than a pre-agreed amount, is illegal. Just as companies can’t get together and fix prices for goods, they are also prohibited from fixing prices for services. A recent indictment of a Texas ex-owner of a staffing agency alleging that he engaged in price fixing shows that DOJ and FBI take wage-fixing arrangement seriously. The indicted ex-owner now faces up to 15 years in prison and over a million dollars in fines.
Wrong Zoom Settings Cost a Company Its Trade Secrets Injunction
Under both, the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act and the various state Uniform Trade Secrets Acts, an owner of trade secrets must take “reasonable measures” or reasonable steps to protect the trade secrets from being disclosed.
Enforcing Promissory Notes in Texas
To prevail on its claim to collect on a promissory note, a lender must prove (1) the existence of the promissory note in question, (2) that the alleged recipient of the funds signed the note, (3) that the lender is the owner or holder of the note, and (4) that a certain balance is due and owing on the note.