Do noncompetes hold up?

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ateria radicularis magna

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Looking for some real beefy stories about non competes.

1. What was or is your noncompete?
2. Does it piss you off?
3. Did you try to get out of it?
4. Was doing so time consuming?
5. How many dollars did you lay down all told to get out of it?
6. Did it ever get ugly?
7. Did you ever dominate your opponent in every way?
8. Did you ever run home with your tail twixt your skinny shanks?
 
ateria radicularis magna said:
Looking for some real beefy stories about non competes.

1. What was or is your noncompete?
2. Does it piss you off?
3. Did you try to get out of it?
4. Was doing so time consuming?
5. How many dollars did you lay down all told to get out of it?
6. Did it ever get ugly?
7. Did you ever dominate your opponent in every way?
8. Did you ever run home with your tail twixt your skinny shanks?
Click to expand...
Have you looked at your state's non-compete laws?
 
Personally, what I have seen is that noncompetes don’t hold up very well. I have not personally experienced fighting one. I would like to hear some juicy tales from the trenches. You got one?
 
ateria radicularis magna said:
Personally, what I have seen is that noncompetes don’t hold up very well. I have not personally experienced fighting one. I would like to hear some juicy tales from the trenches. You got one?
Click to expand...
Fortunately do not. Some states hold up well, others prohibit, others with blue penciling
 
A group of 4 docs left a multispeciality clinic. They challenged the noncompete
And after 1.5 yr of legal battles and lawyers fees they as a group have to pay the clinic 3million dollars
 
jsaul said:
A group of 4 docs left a multispeciality clinic. They challenged the noncompete
And after 1.5 yr of legal battles and lawyers fees they as a group have to pay the clinic 3million dollars
Click to expand...
They should sue their lawyer for malpractice.
 
First non-compete rule of thumb: small practices are unlikely to take you to court over a non-compete as they won't want to risk the cost and hassle...whereas a bigger practice that has a bigger war chest (and may keep a lawyer on retainer) is more likely to sue over a perceived breach of a non-compete. Big hospital system with in-house counsel...even more so.

Second non-compete rule of thumb: If they are legal in your state and you sign a contact that contains one, you've generally already lost. The whole "I doubt my non-compete is even enforceable" line of thinking is flawed because a) even if you go to court over it and win, you still lose (legal fees and also time where you can't be employed while you're in an active suit) and b) most shrewd nearby practices won't want to bring you on if there's a non-compete in the mix as the new practice could potentially become a party in a suit if the practice you're leaving decides to litigate.
 
au bon pain said:
First non-compete rule of thumb: small practices are unlikely to take you to court over a non-compete as they won't want to risk the cost and hassle...whereas a bigger practice that has a bigger war chest (and may keep a lawyer on retainer) is more likely to sue over a perceived breach of a non-compete. Big hospital system with in-house counsel...even more so.

Second non-compete rule of thumb: If they are legal in your state and you sign a contact that contains one, you've generally already lost. The whole "I doubt my non-compete is even enforceable" line of thinking is flawed because a) even if you go to court over it and win, you still lose (legal fees and also time where you can't be employed while you're in an active suit) and b) most shrewd nearby practices won't want to bring you on if there's a non-compete in the mix as the new practice could potentially become a party in a suit if the practice you're leaving decides to litigate.
Click to expand...
I practice in NYC. In my experience, non-competes are not pursued. There's only so much space in this tiny city. I'm not leaving. Not happening. Nope. You will have to sue me.
 
I've seen the local university in my area go after providers who signed a non-compete in a very aggressive way, even when those providers were pursuing small scale private practice. They have attorneys on retainer and they want to maintain deterrence by crushing a doctor now and then. I think a smaller organization might be less likely to attack like this.
 
SeniorWrangler said:
I've seen the local university in my area go after providers who signed a non-compete in a very aggressive way, even when those providers were pursuing small scale private practice. They have attorneys on retainer and they want to maintain deterrence by crushing a doctor now and then. I think a smaller organization might be less likely to attack like this.
Click to expand...
big systems will work around noncompetes.

there are 2 main health systems in my area. both systems, when they hire away someone from the other system, goes out of their way to place that physician in an outlying location for a year, then magically bring them back after that year.
 
It is possible to be a winner and a loser at the same time. How much money are you wanting to pour in to lawyer fees by taking a swing at 'The Man.'
 
SeniorWrangler said:
I've seen the local university in my area go after providers who signed a non-compete in a very aggressive way, even when those providers were pursuing small scale private practice. They have attorneys on retainer and they want to maintain deterrence by crushing a doctor now and then. I think a smaller organization might be less likely to attack like this.
Click to expand...
when you say providers do you mean physicians or does this include NPs and PAs? I'm asking because my network doesn't make the NPs and PAs sign non-competes but they do make the physicians.
 
There are big systems, mostly in academic circles, that selectively do not enforce their non-competes, so some of this depends on the leadership and their relationship with the person. With that said, a lot of large practices can stash people in locations outside the non-compete for the duration of it.
 
DOctorJay said:
when you say providers do you mean physicians or does this include NPs and PAs? I'm asking because my network doesn't make the NPs and PAs sign non-competes but they do make the physicians.
Click to expand...
Same here, NPs and PAs can also join the union, all in all they have it better than the MDs In some ways.
 
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