If I left my company to start a similar company and one of the clients I worked with decided they wanted to contract with my company instead, am I at risk of the previous company taking legal action against me?
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If I left my company to start a similar company and one of the clients I worked with decided they wanted to contract with my company instead, am I at risk of the previous company taking legal action against me?
Asked on September 8, 2015 under Business Law, Oregon
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
If you signed a non-competition or non-solicitation agreement with your previous employer, they could sue you for breach of that agreement if, by the plain terms of the agreement, you were not allowed to do this.
Otherwise, only if they can show that you took proprietary or confidential business files or materials to get the client to switch e.g. took a copy of the client file, or lied to the client about some important fact to get them to go with you, would they have a cause of action.
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