Legal Question in Employment Law in California

If you improperly take or solicit customers to come over to you, the old company can sue you for 'unfair competition'. You need to consult with counsel to get educated on what you can't and can do, and let counsel review any solicitation and advertizing plans. If serious about doing so, feel free to contact me.

I disagree with Mr. Nelson. First off, you are free to take business from customers who just come to you at your new business, regardless of whether they are your old employer's customers or not. You are also free to publicly advertise and take your old employer's customers that way. What you cannot do is use information about the customers that is known only to your employer and use that to solicit them to become customers of your new business. The devil is in the details. If your employer's customer list is a matter of public record, which it may be if all your installations require building or other permits, you are probably free to contact them, along with anyone else who you can get information on from the permit records. If you know exactly who to call and their personal email address or direct dial phone number, however, you probably shouldn't use that information that is only available to your employer and its employees. In short, this is pretty tricky, and Mr. Nelson is right you should have professional legal guidance as you put together your marketing plan for your new business.