August 2024

Earlier this summer, Winstead’s Labor & Employment team reported that Judge Ada Brown in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction as applied only to the plaintiffs in Ryan LLC V. Federal Trade Commission. At the time, the memorandum opinion Judge Brown issued alongside the injunction suggested that she leaned in favor of vacating the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) Noncompete Rule (“FTC Rule”) entirely. Judge Brown set a briefing schedule on Ryan LLC’s motion for summary judgment, which signaled a decision on the merits of Ryan LLC’s claims would be made by August 30, 2024. Yesterday, ten days prior to her stated timeline—and just four days after briefing closed—Judge Brown issued her memorandum opinion and order setting aside the FTC Rule and holding that the FTC Rule “shall not be enforced or otherwise take effect on its effective date of September 4, 2024 or thereafter.”Continue Reading Pencils Down on Those Notices, Employers: A Federal Judge Just Set Aside FTC Noncompete Rule

Winstead’s Labor & Employment team previously reported that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its final rule largely banning noncompetes nationwide (“Rule”), spurring races to the courthouse in the federal district courts. In that regard, we reported that Judge Ada Brown in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a ruling on July 3, 2024, in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, enjoining the FTC from enforcing the Rule against the specific plaintiffs in that case until Judge Brown makes a decision on the ultimate merits of the action. Judge Brown is slated to rule on the merits of the case on or before August 30, 2024.Continue Reading Lawsuits Lead to Inconsistent Judicial Rulings Regarding the FTC’s Noncompete Ban