non compete clause

[omniplus]

question #1- i left an agency I worked at for 8 years. i took no list, no info, etc. However, family and friends I have written auto, home, etc with at previous agency have found out that i have gone out on my own and started my own agency. they have requested they want to continue to do business with me and not my previous employer. Is it ok to rewrite policies as they contacted me and they are personal friends and family.

question #2 - The same agency also sent out letters letting customers know that I have left their agency to pursue other interests. This prompted many of them to contact me directly as a result of receiving this letter and inquire what i was doing now and can they still go with me for their personal business. Is it ok to rewrite these people and not break noncompete clause - same as question #1.

[lonestar]

omniplus, if you signed a non-compete with the other agency, then you will need to refer the legal document to see if you would be breaking it.

[darnovak]

Find an attorney knowledgeable in contract law and pay to have him/her go over your non-compete clause contract. Then follow their advice as it will be worth a hundred times (or thousands of times) what you pay them. Do not attempt to practice 'contract law' yourself or listen to the well intentioned recommendations you may get here. Free advice ends up costing much more in the long run. Been there and got the t-shirt. Get competent legal advice, pronto!

[jwns2864]

If you have to ask the question you know the answer, you signed an agreement not compete. If you take their customers you are competing. But you can always pay an attorney to help you weasel out of the agreement. Why not make an offer to split the commission until your time has expired on the agreement or find another way to work it out. Your paths with your former employer will cross again during your career. Make it a positive step.

[Farm Agent]

Like stated above, I would certainly get local legal consult first, but here is what I learned and did.

I am now an agency owner (3 years out) after 11 years as an employee of an agency. I did not have any written "non-compete" however I did consult a lawyer specializing in these issues and this is what I learned.

In California, a prior employer can not prevent you from practicing your craft or trade even if you signed a non-compete. Non-competes are only applicable in business break ups or purchases between businesses, not employees. But, as an ex employee, you are not allowed to use any information that you garnered during your employement activities to compete against that company (lists, addresses, ex-dates, customer contacts, policy terms ect). However, after you leave that employer, if a client comes to you directly and unsolicited, there is nothing the prior employer can do to stop them from doing business with you.

I handle commercial accounts primarly. My lawyer advised me to send out a generic post card, much like a business card, that had my photo and business name to 100's of local prospects. This list of prospects came from purchased D&B lists, Manta, and other Biz to Biz lists in my geographic area. Ironically, nearly all of my prior clients were on that list, but it did not come from the prior agency. I documented all of this in detail just in case. The post card had my photo, the name of my business and my phone number and a tag line for our business. That's it, no solicitation, no call me, not even product information.

My prior employer rattled some legal sabers and levied several threats. My attorney sent him a letter outlining the laws in CA and that if he didn't "sit down and shut up" we would take action against him. That was the end of the discussion.

Good luck. It was the best decision I ever made professionally.

[darnovak]

Notice the first thing done was to consult an attorney. This 'weasel' made the intelligent and moral decision to play by the rules in CA. My advice is confirmed - get competent legfal advice and save yourself a load of problems. What could be simpler and more cost effective folks? Case closed.

[roxfan65]

I just went through this personally and am nearing the last few months of my non-compete. My advice is to lay low until your non compete is up and dont patronize your old clients. I had many reach out to me and just document that they came to you and you did not solicit them. In my state, this is tough to enforce unless you are blatantly soliciting old clients. The year will be up sooner than you think. I did consult an attorney and the advice was to just play defensively, document and dont bad mouth your prior employer.

[AgencyEquity]

I write about this very issue in my Guide to Starting an Independent Insurance Agency. You should abide by the non-complete, but there are ways to deal with it and win in the long run so that you can be in a much better position should a lawsuit occur. You can read the guide under "Start Up Agency Resources" on my website linked below.

[Rainmaker]

All very good advice. I would simply add that the strength of non-competes will vary by state and the circuit court governing those states. California is a case study for 'the Wild Wild West' in terms of non-competes - always ruling in favor of the departing producer. However, in Oregon for example they are upheld. There are also issues of consideration being paid, book purchases, whether this occurs during an earn out period, etc., etc. I am seeing more of a trend towards beefing up the privacy and proprietary information covenants in producer contracts since the non-compete covenants have so many missing teeth to them!

Aside from the legal issue, which is best to seek counsel from an attorney on, I would encourage you to add other elements to this discussion which come to bear as well: 1) your relationships with your clients; 2) your professional reputation within the community; 3) the ability for your future employer to sustain a contract for you financial without this business migrating over; or 1/3 of it, 1/2 of it, etc., etc., are good scenarios to game out so you can have a sense of the economics and the time you will have to re-build your book or build it from scratch; 4) your disposition to 're-build' a book in terms of the 'blood, sweat and tears' involved in doing so.

While the legal issue is obviously important, I would encourage you to add other elements to the equation (some listed above) so you can look at this issue from as many sides as possible before embarking upon a path.

[92builder]

I would not solicit anyone that you had on the books for one year. If family and friends do not wish to be with him and ASK YOU to write them, you should have them go to the agent and explain to him they would like to leave. Then, you may write them in your agency. Non-competes rarely stand up if you're not actively soliciting their customers, and the agent should let those people leave if they do not want to be with him. Be up-front with this and you'll come out on top.

[jameskshaffer]

Consult an attorney. They are your family, so it's a tricky situation. You still could run into some legal trouble if you signed a non-compete clause, however. Like I said, consult a lawyer.

[shiftins]

A no compete usually states you cannot solicit to your past clients; however, if they reach out to you there is no law against that. basically your old agency provided you free advertising.

[AgencyEquity]

Some states prohibit non-compete agreements to a certain extent. In some cases a client is not bound by the non-compete agreement and cannot be prohibited from choosing whom to do business with. Nevertheless, those looking to transition from being an employee to their own agency should proceed with caution. You should consult with an attorney who is familiar with non-compete agreements in the state(s) you do business in. A good attorney should also tell you to what extent you can market to previous clients, such as:

Contacting your clients
Sending an announcement
Re-capturing clients through advertising