Topic: Non-Compete Enforceability

Minority Shareholder/Employee Not Bound by Non-Compete Tied to Sale of His Share of the Business

April 14, 2025 Topics: Blog, Consideration, Injunctions, Non-Compete Enforceability, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
Case comment: ARC Surveys Ltd v Ni, 2024 ABKB 629 The approach of the courts to restrictive covenants attached to the sale of a business, as opposed to those arising solely from employment, is well known. In the case of the former, enforcement is much more likely, with the courts…
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Privacy Rights, Damage Assessments and the Importance of Pleadings

May 30, 2023 Topics: Blog, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Confidential Documents, Damages, Disgorgement of Profits, Non-Compete Enforceability, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
Several recent decisions are of interest to those advising on, and litigating, employee competition cases. First, the Alberta privacy commissioner finds that employers, in some circumstances, may disclose their former employees’ restrictive covenants to third parties. Two Alberta Courts provide analysis on assessing damages in successful actions for unlawful competition.…
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Vendor of Trucking Company Ordered to Live Up to Five Year Non-Compete

February 14, 2023 Topics: Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
The B.C. Supreme Court has granted an interlocutory injunction restraining the vendor of a trucking company, Sonic Transport Ltd., from competing for a period of five years past the ending of his employment with the purchaser. Diamond Delivery bought Sonic from Leslie and Pam Calder in 2015. Leslie continued to…
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Post-Resignation Restrictive Covenant Upheld as a Commercial, not Employment Agreement

May 24, 2021 Topics: Blog, Non-Compete Enforceability, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants
WJ Packaging Solutions Corp. v Park, 2021 BCSC 316 The BC Supreme Court holds that a five-year agreement prohibiting competition by a departed employee is enforceable, with less scrutiny applied as being a commercial agreement. The decision raises interesting considerations for employers contemplating negotiating non-compete or non-solicit covenants with former employees…
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The Re-Emergence of Blue-Pencil Severance of (some) Restrictive Covenants

December 30, 2020 Topics: Blog, Blue Penciling, Injunctions, Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
City Wide Towing and Recovery Service Ltd v Poole, 2020 ABCA 305 The Alberta Court of Appeal holds that blue-pencil severance may be used to alter restrictive covenants that restrain employee competition, provided the covenant was part of the sale of a business. The practice of “blue-pencil” severance in employment…
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Is Consideration Still Necessary to Enforce Restrictive Covenants? A Consideration of the British Columbia Court of Appeal’s Decision in Rosas v. Toca

September 28, 2019 Topics: Blog, Consideration, Non-Compete Enforceability, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants
The British Columbia Court of Appeal radically altered the law of consideration last year in Rosas v. Toca. The Court held that, absent duress, unconscionability or other public policy concerns, a mid-contract variation will be enforceable as long as the parties agree to the variation. Against Rosas stand judicial presumptions of an inequality…
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Former Telus Executive Escapes Non-Compete due to “Overzealous Drafting”, but Rebuked for Pursuing Termination Payment while Negotiating New Employment with Competitor

January 26, 2019 Topics: Blog, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants
Telus Communications Inc. v. Golberg, 2018 BCSC 1825 A battle between corporate titans Telus Communications and Rogers Media highlights the danger of “overzealous drafting” of restrictive covenants, which enabled a former Telus executive to compete against his former employer. At the same time, the Supreme Court of British Columbia rebukes…
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Employee’s Non-Competition Covenant Attached to Share Purchase Attracts Rigorous Interpretation.

October 3, 2018 Topics: Blog, Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
961945 Alberta Ltd (Servicemaster of Edmonton Disaster Restoration) v Meyer, 2018 ABQB 564, 2018 ABQB 564 The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench holds that even where the evidence did not support an imbalance of bargaining power, the more rigorous approach to interpreting restrictive covenants was warranted in respect of a…
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The Perils in Drafting Restrictive Covenants and the Importance of Context

April 18, 2018 Topics: Blog, Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
Ceridian Dayforce Corporation v. Daniel Wright (2017 ONSC 6763),853947 B.C. Ltd. v. Source Office Furniture & Systems Ltd. (2016 BCSC 2233) A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice refusing to enforce a non-competition clause highlights the many ways in which the drafter of a restrictive covenant can go too…
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Arguing Ambiguities in Restrictive Covenants – The Pendulum Swings Back to Enforceability

May 28, 2015 Topics: Blog, Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants
One of the most-used strategies to argue that a non-compete or non-solicit provision is unenforceable is to point to any possible ambiguity in the wording used. In the leading Canadian decision, the Supreme Court of Canada held in J.G. Collins Insurance Agencies Ltd. v. Elsley Estate, 1978 CanLII 7 (SCC), that in order…
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