More potential non-compete shenanigans

Yesterday I wrote about a non-compete clause, and here’s another one out of New York: Cogint, Inc. v. Moraes, 159597/2017. Yesterday’s concerned auction houses, this one concerns digital marketing and advertising, in which Moraes was prohibited from competing for one year after his employment. The non-compete here seems to be worded as broadly in scope as the one that yesterday’s court found to be overbroad, but there is no discussion about janitorial capacity in this case. Rather, the court concluded that the non-compete here was necessary to protect the plaintiff’s interest because Moraes was a key employee in possession of trade secrets. 

Not only was Moraes potentially in violation of the non-compete, but the court found that he potentially breached his employment agreement by terminating his employment before the term of the agreement concluded. The court found that the agreement did not provide him the right to terminate his employment at will.