Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California

I worked for a small Ford Dealership (Auburn, CA) as a salesman for 22 months. I have moved to a Large Ford dealership in Roseville, CA (about 20 miles away). The small dealership has advised me I cannot contact any of my clients I met while there as they "belong to the dealership, not me". Can I approach those clients? They also said I cannot approach them for my home business (nothing to do with selling cars). Q-2 - Is that accurate also?


Asked on 11/21/13, 8:08 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

They are absolutely right when it comes to anything to to with selling cars and in fact anything to do with the business of an automobile dealership, such as service, parts, even financing. Both you and your new employer could be sued. The home business side of it is a more complicated issue and would require review of a lot of details about your business and the business model of your former employer regarding their customer acquisition and relationships. Use of customer knowledge from a former employer is sometimes illegal even in a totally unrelated endeavor.

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Answered on 11/21/13, 6:15 pm


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