In Home Paramount Pest Control Cos. v. Shaffer, No. 101837, 2011 Va. LEXIS 222 (Nov. 4, 2011), the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that a covenant not to compete was overbroad and unenforceable, even though it was identical to a covenant the court had upheld 22 years earlier in Paramount Termite Control Co. v. Rector, 238 Va. 171 (1989). Acknowledging this, the court expressly overruled its holding in Paramount Termite.
Articles About Virginia Labor And Employment Law.
Virginia Supreme Court Refuses to Relax Standard for Tortious Interference with Employment Contract
An at-will employee must show a customer used “improper methods†beyond merely “actions solely motivated by spite, ill will and malice†to prove her employer’s primary customer tortiously interfered with her employment contract, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled. The Court reversed a jury verdict awarding $900,000 in damages to a doctor for tortious interference, finding the pressure inherent in her employer’s relationship with its customer and primary source of revenue cannot rise to the level of “improper methods†needed for an at-will employee to show that the third party tortiously interfered with her employment contract.