Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Breach of Contract

Your explanation of the facts is not clear. Who has entered into contracts with you? Do you have a contract with the consultant individually, or with Company A? If you contracted with the consultant as an individual and he left his job with Company A, then I don't see how the company can be held responsible.

If you have a valid contract with Company B which says they cannot hire your consultants, then you should be able to sue them. If you have a contract with the consultant which says he can't take a job with your client, then you should be able to sue him. I just don't see how you could sue the company you hired him from.

You should also sit down with a lawyer and have him review these contracts with you. If you drafted them yourself, there is a good chance that you wrote them improperly and that they cannot be enforced. Non-compete clauses are not the sort of thing laypeople should try to draft on their own.

Re: Breach of Contract

Based on the limited facts, you may very well have legal recourse for the breach of the non-competion clause. I have extensive experience in this area and have dealt with both sides of similar situations in the IT sector. Please contact our office for a further consultation.

Re: Breach of Contract

It would be necessary for someone to review your written agreement with your consultant. It should provide for all of your damages and remedies. That document governs your relationship with the consultant. It would also be necessary to review your actual losses as a result of his breach. If you can sue him, or even arbitrate your dispute, and you can prove the damages, you can go ahead against the consultant, and should.

Re: Breach of Contract

from the facts given, you should be well within your rights to sue for breach of contract and recover special damages as well if the non-compete portion of your contract is reasonable, valid and enforceable. if you would like VERY aggressive and affordable representation in this matter, please email my office directly with how soon you would like to proceed.

Re: Breach of Contract

Thank you for your inquiry.

If you had a written contract with the consultant, and it contained a non-competition clause, i.e., a promise on his part that he wouldn't work for this other company for one year (and this type of clause is fairly standard), then you certainly can sue the consultant. Whether or not company A is liable, is difficult to say from the limited information provided. Maybe they wanted to lose the consultant, and procured his employment, but I think that might be unlikely.

I hope this helps, but if you do want to proceed with this, or have other questions or need more information, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. I am happy to help in any way that I can.