Non-Competition Agreements Assignable to Successor Employer in Asset Purchase Without Employees' Consent: US Courts
Eighth Circuit Finds Non-Competition Agreements Assignable to Successor Employer in Asset Purchase Without Employees' Consent Ford & Harrison LLP prev next USA July 11 2016 Executive Summary : The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently held that a successor employer, who was assigned non-competition agreements as part of an asset purchase, could seek to enforce the non-competition agreements under Missouri law against two former employees of the predecessor who went to work for a competitor. Reversing the district court's order granting summary judgment to the former employees on the basis that the non-competition agreements were "personal service contracts" and could not be assigned without the employees' consent, the Court of Appeals in Symphony Diagnostic Services No. 1 Inc. v. Greenbaum found that that the non-competition agreements were not personal service contracts and, therefore, could