Articles Tagged with FTC

Last week, on August 14, 2024, a Florida federal court addressed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) non-compete ban in Properties of the Villages, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission and entered a limited preliminary injunction preventing the rule from taking effect and limited the preliminary injunction to the parties in the case. The court based its decision on the “major questions doctrine,” which prevents a federal agency from issuing substantive rules without express congressional authorization where such rules would have “extraordinary economic and political significance.” Indeed, the court found that the FTC rule would significantly impact the economy by modifying an area of law that has always been the province of state law.

This decision follows the lead of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which issued a preliminary injunction preventing the rule from taking effect, but only regarding the plaintiff in the case of Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission.

Read on for more information in this blog post.

Earlier this month, we wrote about a Texas federal court’s issuance of a limited preliminary injunction staying the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule banning non-compete clauses for the plaintiffs in that case. Despite not issuing a preliminary nationwide ban, the Texas federal court stated it would render a final decision on August 30, 2024, before the rule becomes effective on September 4, 2024. Based on language contained in the Texas federal court’s opinion on the preliminary injunction, it appears likely that the Texas federal court will ultimately issue a permanent injunction, effectively killing the FTC’s non-compete ban.

However, on July 23, 2024, a federal court in Pennsylvania refused to follow the Texas court’s lead and decided not to enjoin the FTC’s non-compete ban temporarily. Unlike the Texas federal court, the Pennsylvania federal court ruled that the plaintiff did not satisfy its burden of establishing the need for a preliminary injunction.

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