Restrictive covenants can play an important role in many different types of contracts. Noncompete, nondisclosure and nonsolicitation agreements can all help protect a business’s interests and intellectual property. They prevent the disclosure of nonpublic information, the formation of a competing business, client poaching and attempts to hire the key employees at a company.
Unfortunately, vendors, former business partners and employees do not always uphold the terms of a restrictive covenant. A lawsuit is sometimes the only way to enforce the terms of a restrictive covenant. If litigation is necessary, an injunction can be a helpful legal remedy.
How do injunctions help?
Injunctions are legal orders issued by a judge. They can prohibit continued violations of the restrictive covenant by putting the defendant named in the lawsuit at risk of contempt of court allegations. The penalties the courts could impose include fines and even jail time. They could also hold the party that violated the injunction responsible for the plaintiff’s legal fees.
Injunctions can also sometimes require actions that address the impact of a prior violation. For example, after the breach of a nondisclosure agreement, an injunction could prohibit the release of additional information or even mandate the removal of inappropriate content from a website or social media page.
Requesting the right legal remedies is an important component of any successful business lawsuit. Business leaders trying to protect a company from the misconduct of outside parties who are still subject to restrictive covenants may need to review an agreement, any breach that occurred and the impact that the breach at issue has had on the business with a business litigation attorney, and that’s okay.