Legal Question in Business Law in Texas

this is out of dallas: So I was with a small networking company for 12 years, i was Basically the Network system manager for the company and several clients, the Owner sold the company to a bigger company last november. I signed a non-discloser agreement a while back. When the bigger company took over, they decided to let me go this past december for the reason of "it is just not working out". Well i decided to start my own company, i am a religious man and gave it to god to tell me what to do, and i started getting calls from customers of the company that released me asking me to do business with them, Well i had a lawyer look at the contract, and basically as long as i didnt solicit the companies customers, that i was ok.... is this right? Now a few months into it, i am being sued by this company for 75000 for breaking the agreement. their biggest stance is when i sent out an email telling the customers that i had been released from the company and that i would appreciate anyone i could use as a good reference, considering the fact i have known most of the people for years. they are saying that i was slandering the company and started soliciting right then and there. So what are my options? I was also looking into the fact that the manager of the company was slandering my name telling customers lies about the reason that i was let go. they placed a temporary injunction on me...... so what are my options, i need a corporate lawyer, who can assist me or if anything just some assistance on here... thank you


Asked on 4/09/10, 5:20 am

3 Answers from Attorneys
David Leon David L. Leon, P.C.

If you have received a citation, then you need to hire a lawyer and file an answer to the lawsuit, ASAP. You have some very short deadlines, and you need counsel. Your attorney will also need time to review the case with you and prepare the answer. Time is not on your side.

Dave

Please read my disclaimer:

http://leonlaw.com/askalawyer/disclaimer

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Answered on 4/14/10, 6:59 am
Edmund Burke Edmund B Burke, Attorney at Law

You wrote: "i had a lawyer look at the contract, and basically as long as i didnt solicit the companies customers, that i was ok.... is this right?"

A restrictive agreement may stipulate that an employee, post-termination, is barred from "soliciting" the Company's customers. *If* this is what you had, often the term "soliciting" is construed narrowly, i.e. only to prohibit the former employee from making contact with the customers for purposes of a competing business.

So if Customer X found you were separated from the Company, and *it* independently contacted *you*, without your having formerly contacted it, then this would not qualify as a prohibited "solicitation."

This appears to be complicated in your case by your having sent around a communication to the former customers: While you may not have expressly asked for their business, it could be interpreted as an indirect or subtle way of doing that, or as a type of subterfuge. Obviously you were interested in their business. Was this the basis on which the court issued an injunction against you?

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Answered on 4/14/10, 7:55 am
Charles Williamson Charles J. Williamson, Attorney At Law

I agree with the first answer, given by David Leon, that if you have, in fact, been sued, you need to hook up with an attorney you feel you can trust. Time is not on your side and so you need to jump on this immediately. Its likely that they're just trying to scare you, but you still need to play it by the rules. Chances are some sort of accommodation can be worked out between you and your prior employer. But, for now, don't let them get a default judgment against you because you didn't properly reply (filing a pleading document with the court).

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Answered on 4/14/10, 6:46 pm


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