141970P.pdf   08/06/2015  Stuart C. Irby Company, Inc.  v.  Brandon Tipton
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  14-1970
                          and No:  14-2682
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Little Rock   
   [PUBLISHED] [Gruender, Author, with Wollman, Circuit Judge, and Gritzner, 
   District Judge] 
   Civil case - Contracts. In action involving former employees' 
   convenants-not-to-compete, the district court erred in granting summary 
   judgment for defendant Tipton on plaintiff's claim that he breached his 
   fiduciary duty by recruiting two fellow employees to go to work for 
   plaintiff's competitor as plaintiff presented sufficient evidence to 
   create a genuine issue as to whether Tipton's actions constituted 
   recruitment; the court predicts that the Arkansas Supreme Court would 
   follow the majority rule that a covenant not to compete can be assigned to 
   a successor employer; since the covenants could be assigned, plaintiff had 
   a right to enforce them in the same manner as the predecessor, and the 
   covenants were enforceable for one year after the employees resigned; 
   there were a number of issues of material fact as to whether the covenants 
   were enforceable under Arkansas law, and the district court erred in 
   concluding they were unenforceable because they were overbroad, did not 
   protect valid interests and lacked a reasonable geographic limitation; 
   based on the foregoing, the district court erred in granting defendants 
   summary judgment on plaintiff's claim they engaged in a civil conspiracy 
   to violate Tipton's fiduciary duty and on plaintiff's claim for tortious 
   interference with a contract; defendants' award of attorneys' fees 
   vacated.