Lina Dagnew

Aug 21, 2024 | lexology.com | Robert Atkins |Joseph J. Bial |Rebecca Coccaro |Lina Dagnew |Andrew J. Ehrlich |Reuven Falik | +19 more

A federal district court in Texas ruled on the merits that the FTC does not have statutory authority to promulgate the Non-Compete Clause Rule and that the rule is arbitrary and capricious. As a consequence, the court set aside the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act and ordered that it “shall not be enforced or otherwise take effect.” The order is nationwide in scope and not party-specific. Two other challenges to the rule are pending in other district courts.

Jul 24, 2024 | lexology.com | Robert Atkins |Joseph J. Bial |Rebecca Coccaro |Lina Dagnew |Andrew J. Ehrlich |Reuven Falik | +16 more

Current state of affairsTwo different federal district courts have now issued two different rulings in similar challenges to the same FTC Non-Compete Clause Rule. In the first, Ryan, et al. v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 24-cv-986 (N.D. Tex. July 3, 2024), the court granted plaintiffs’ motions for preliminary injunction and stayed the effective date of the rule pending a ruling on the merits. In the second, ATS Tree Services, LLC v.

Apr 24, 2024 | lexology.com | Robert Atkins |Joseph J. Bial |Rebecca Coccaro |Andrew Finch |Jarrett Hoffman |Brad S. Karp | +16 more

The FTC’s final non-compete clause rule would ban all new and nearly all existing employer-worker non-competes. The ban would go into effect 120 days after publication in the Federal Register. The final rule is only slightly narrower in scope than the initial proposed rule. The final rule does not ban existing non-compete agreements with “senior executives,” and it retains and expands upon an exemption for non-compete agreements related to sale of a business.