ArchEng and Vidaris obtain preliminary injunction against former employee currently working for competitor

Client(s) ArchEng Holding Company; Vidaris, Inc.

Jones Day, on behalf of ArchEng Holding Company and Vidaris, Inc., obtained a preliminary injunction preventing a former employee from holding essentially the same position with a competitor of Vidaris. The former employee resigned from employment with Vidaris and joined competitor Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. five days later. Applying the Delaware covenant in the employees' stock grant agreement, rather than New York or Massachusetts employment law, the court found that ArchEng and Vidaris had shown that the former employee likely breached certain restrictive covenants in that stockholders agreement and enjoined the former employee from competing with ArchEng and Vidaris in the six-state region where he had worked. While such restrictions are common in Delaware agreements in connection with the sale of a company, the decision upheld the enforceability of restrictive covenants in connection with a stock grant by a privately held company.

ArchEng Holding Company and Vidaris, Inc. v. Walter Harnett, No. 2017-0843 (Del. Ch.)