Non-Competition Clauses: Beware of Abusive Legal Proceedings!

In a column published by Thomson Reuters, our lawyers Yanick Gagnon-Carbonneau and Valérie Allard discuss a Superior Court decision regarding a claim for damages for abuse of process brought against an employer by its resigning former employee, who complained that the employer had sued for an injunction based on a clearly invalid non-competition clause.

While the Jutras v. La Presse (2018) inc. decision was made in a particular procedural context, it nonetheless provides employers with a good example of the caution they should exercise before taking legal action against their former employees based on an alleged breach of a non-competition clause. To ensure that employers have a valid claim to compliance with such obligations, our professionals emphasize the importance of carefully examining non-competition clauses before applying to the courts to enforce them. Moreover, employers must ensure that non-competition clauses are valid when they are drafted, particularly with respect to determining the type of work they prohibit and the scope activities they cover.