Filing a claim against a lawyer is risky because it can get personal and the lawyer will do everything to fight back. In a case about a noncompete agreement, both the former employer and the lawyer could be sued. The lawyer may have to consider if they can still represent the employer fairly, and if not, they may have to stop representing them. In some legal cases in Florida, defendants may argue that they are protected from being sued for interference in a legal case by something called “litigation privilege.” This means that they canât be sued for things they do during a legal case. However, this protection only applies to actions that happen during a legal case, not before it, like when a lawyer sends a letter to someone before they file a lawsuit. So, this protection doesnât always apply in those situations. In the case of Trent v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., the court ruled that a mortgagee couldn’t use the litigation privilege to protect itself when sending pre-foreclosure letters to mortgagors. The court said that the privilege doesn’t apply to communications before a lawsuit is filed, especially when the law doesn’t require those communications. This decision suggests that a court would likely also deny a claim of litigation privilege in a similar situation involving an employer and an employee’s restrictive covenant with a former employer. A law firm sent demand letters and got sued for violating laws. The court said the letters might not have been sent in good faith. This case could be used to argue against a law firm in other cases. If someone tries to question a representative from the law firm in court, the law firm might try to stop them, but the court should be careful not to always agree with the law firm’s arguments. One advantage for the employee suing the law firm is that the law firm can be required to give a deposition in the case. This means they have to answer questions under oath about their communications with the employee’s new employer. Even though some information may be protected, the law firm still has to answer questions about relevant and non-privileged matters. Employees now have a better chance of fighting back against unfair noncompete agreements thanks to new court rulings. Even though it might not be easy, employees can now sue their former employers and lawyers for unfair actions. Noncompete agreements will still exist, but employees have a way to fight back if the agreements are unfair. This text is about a lawyer specializing in labor and employment law. He is associated with a law firm in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The column is submitted on behalf of the Labor and Employment Law Section. It talks about legal cases and rules related to the practice of law. The Florida Bar is also mentioned.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/taking-the-fight-to-the-bullies-tortious-interference-liability-for-both-employer-and-attorney-on-baseless-restrictive-covenants-part-ii/
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