Question re a contract I signed..

[B3pete]

Hello all,

Any definitive answer gents?

As a self employed commission only salesman I signed a contract that MAY have included (I can't find my copy)"I cannot work in this field or start my own company in competiton."

Guys is this legal?(No patents involved just the idea.}

A barrack room lawyer suggeste it may contravene "your human rights of infringement to work"

Hope he is right.

Fellas any comments greatly appreciated ,thanks in advance.Pete

Edited by B3pete on Tuesday 12th January 17:03

Edited by B3pete on Tuesday 12th January 17:47

Edited by B3pete on Tuesday 12th January 17:47

[Thurbs]

Restrictive covenants are perfectly legal as long as they are reasonable.

A covenant restricting someone from working in retail, world wide, forever would be unreasonable.

A covenant restricting someone to not work for competitor x, y and z for 3 months is reasonable.

What's the wording in the contract?

Edited by Thurbs on Tuesday 12th January 17:18

[B3pete]

Hello thurbs,sadly I have deleted the email that had the contract on it which I printed off signed and gave to them hence cannot remember any wording.However knowing them reckon there is some clause re the OP.

Incidentally,just thinking ,they did not countersign the contract and get it back to me.(Mind you not sure if there was a place for them to sign anyway.)Legally should they have got a signed copy back to me?

Basically I realised they were making an awful lot of money off my hard work and having researched I could set up on my own.

Thanks,Pete

[singlecoil]

Generally for a contract to be legally enforceable there has to be a 'consideration'. Doesn't sound as if you've received anything from them that could be considered a consideration.

[B3pete]

Hello singlecoil thanks for your reply.

Frustrated now though because I do not know what"consideration"means.Google is no help.Could you enlighten me please, thankyou.

Edited by B3pete on Wednesday 13th January 10:33

[Pothole]

assuming you're still in the job, can you not just ask for a copy of the contract?

[singlecoil]

B3pete said:

Hello singlecoil thanks for your reply.

Frustrated now though because I do not know what"consideration"means.Google is no help.Could you enlighten me please, thankyou.

Don't bother with google for stuff like this, wikipedia should be your first port of call


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration_in_Engl...

[B3pete]

Hello pothole,seems obvious I agree!!!However I have left the company and I do not want to give them a clue .

There is no reasoning in their eyes why I would want to see it.
They are the only people doing this particular advertising medium and they would get suspicious.

I understand from an outsider looking in it could sound ridiculous that I will not ask them but that is a no no.Thanks for the reply pothole,good luck.

[Soovy]

Depends what the clause says.

If you can get it I will review for free and tell you if it's enforceable.

[B3pete]

Soovy said:

Depends what the clause says.

If you can get it I will review for free and tell you if it's enforceable.

Soovy what can I say apart from a big thankyou ,your a top man.

Got to put my thinking cap on re getting the flippin thing!!!.

Thanks again.Good luck Pete.

[Pothole]

B3pete said:

Hello pothole,seems obvious I agree!!!However I have left the company and I do not want to give them a clue .

There is no reasoning in their eyes why I would want to see it.
They are the only people doing this particular advertising medium and they would get suspicious.

I understand from an outsider looking in it could sound ridiculous that I will not ask them but that is a no no.Thanks for the reply pothole,good luck.

if they're the only people doing it, then any such clause is surely unnecessary....(?)

[B3pete]

Pothole there will not be only them doing it .The other is ME !!!!

Thing is pothole for one reason, I have no loyalty to these guys and that is when I thought I could set this up on my own.Which i basically have done I'm ready to go and what will be will be ,they may find out ,they may not.

Singlecoil thanks for wiki.Think they were "considerate"in the fact they offered me an assignment which I duly finished.

[Soovy]

B3pete said:

Soovy said:

Depends what the clause says.

If you can get it I will review for free and tell you if it's enforceable.

Soovy what can I say apart from a big thankyou ,your a top man.

Got to put my thinking cap on re getting the flippin thing!!!.

Thanks again.Good luck Pete.

Basically as stated below, if the clause is a "reasonable" restriction and is for a "reasonable" period then they CAN stop you.

If it's not then it will be thrown out by a court.

[B3pete]

Just for a heads up if you put "non compete clause "in google an amazing amount of stuff is there.

Still none the wiser really.

[singlecoil]

B3pete said:

Still none the wiser really.

Until we know what you have signed, I guess that's true.

[Soovy]

singlecoil said:

B3pete said:

Still none the wiser really.

Until we know what you have signed, I guess that's true.

This

Show us the clause and we'll tell you whether it is enforceable.

[TooLateForAName]

Worth saying that they would need to take action against you in court to enforce the contract - It isnt unusual for contracts to contain all sorts of unenforceable stuff because they hope that people will think that it is all enforceable.


Soovy is right that you really need to find the contract wording. Do you remember if there was a time limit or a geographic area or market sector linked with that clause?

[B3pete]

Guys appreciate you trying to help me.I have not got a copy of the contract it was on an email I deleted.Truthfully have no idea how it was set up.

Me being me I never really read it.In my world of a self empployed salesman problems never (?)arise.Knowing them there has to be clauses relating to my fears.I mean when I left they asked for any brochures paperwork etc to be returned AND asked me to clear all items that were on my computer.Very thorough.

We only have one market sector,I would not use any of their customers or database.Reckon the clause would relate to not starting on my own in the whole of the uk.

As you all say without the contract We are snookered and I am not contacting them.

Once again thanks and good luck all.Pete

[singlecoil]

The obvious solution is for you to go ahead and start doing whatever it is you want to do- if it bothers them then I daresay they will get in touch and tell you to stop, citing the appropriate clause in the contract. You then get the clause looked at for enforceability and make a decision then, when you have all the facts at your disposal.

At the moment you are just guessing, you are guessing whether the contract contains anything that is a problem, guessing whether they are going to bother to try to enforce it, and whether they would actually be able to achieve that.

[Engineer1]

Spin them a line to get a copy of your contract, tell them you need it for your records or that your accountant needs to check something anything to get a copy as without it you don't know what you signed up for. Don't forget no matter how good a contract is it comes down to who is prepared to enforce it, if they can't or won't lawyer up then it doesn't matter.