R-T Specialty exec does not have to honor CRC noncompete clause: Court
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LOS ANGELES—Timothy W. Turner, president and CEO of R-T Specialty L.L.C., is not obliged to honor a noncompetition clause in his contract with former employer CRC Insurance Services Inc., a California court has ruled.
Mr. Turner served as president of Birmingham, Ala.-based CRC before leaving to join Ryan Specialty Group Inc., the Chicago-based parent company of R-T Specialty, in February 2010. More than 120 CRC employees eventually followed him to join Ryan Specialty, sparking lawsuits filed by both sides over the employees' employment contracts.
The Superior Court of California in Los Angeles pointed out in its July 13 ruling that Mr. Turner's contract with CRC contained a clause that prohibited him from working for any competitor for two years or soliciting CRC clients over the same period.
The court ruled, however, that Mr. Turner is under no duty to abide by the employment agreement with CRC because it is invalid under the California Business and Professions Code.
In a separate ruling, the court said that 28 employees that left CRC to join Ryan Specialty are under no obligation to abide by nonsolicitation agreements they signed with their former employer. Those obligations also violate the California code, the court ruled.
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