Representation of Oil and Gas Staffing Client in Non-Solicitation Dispute With Former Employee

Richard Reibstein (New York) and Andrew Reed (Houston) represented a UK staffing company, which operates a Houston branch focused on placing talent in the oil and gas industry, in a non-solicitation dispute. The Locke Lord team filed a complaint in state court on the client’s behalf shortly after the client learned that a former employee had been doing business for six months with the client’s Houston-area customers, despite having signed an employment agreement with a nine-month non-solicitation of customers clause. The team obtained a temporary restraining order with expedited discovery, which led to the discovery of multiple documents proving the solicitation of customers, a fact that was not disputed by the defendant at his deposition. A day before the scheduled hearing on the client’s request for a temporary injunction, the former employee agreed to settle for a sum that exceeded the amount of damages to date and required the plaintiff to pay the client double that amount in future placement fees, subject to verification and certification of future income. The settlement terms were thereafter “so ordered” by the Texas state court.
Posted on June 9, 2020