Claims Adjuster Noncompete Valid: Appeals Court

A noncompete agreement involving stock options for a claims adjuster who changed firms is enforceable, a federal appeals court ruled.

A panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Friday affirmed a preliminary injunction granted by a lower court in favor of Jersey City, New Jersey-based York Risk Services Group Inc. in the noncompete and nonsolicitation dispute with former employee John Couture.

Mr. Couture joined York in 2005 as a national general adjuster but left in 2018 to join McLarens Global Claims Services, one of York’s direct competitors, according to the ruling in York Risk Services Group Inc. v. John Couture.

After Mr. Couture started at McLarens, seven York employees, all of whom reported to or had contact with him, left to join McLarens, and several of them brought open accounts and business from York, according to the ruling.