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Jared Klaus is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, focusing on complex commercial litigation. His experience includes all facets of complex litigation – from discovery to motion practice, as well as trials, arbitrations and appeals.

microphone at podiumFederal regulation of employee non-compete agreements will be the focus of a workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in Washington, DC. First announced by the FTC on Dec. 5, 2019, the purpose of the workshop is “to examine whether there is a sufficient legal basis and empirical economic support to promulgate a Commission Rule that would restrict the use of non-compete clauses in employer-employee employment contracts.”

The FTC has now released the agenda for the workshop, which is titled “Non-Compete Clauses in the Workplace: Examining Antitrust and Consumer Protection Issues” and will be webcast live. Among the topics that will be addressed by the speakers and panelists – which include mostly law professors, economists and policy analysts, and only one practicing attorney – are the economic effects of non-competes, the FTC’s authority to address non-competes and whether the FTC should initiate a rulemaking regarding non-competes. The FTC has released the following list of questions that will be addressed at the workshop, and on which the FTC is soliciting public comment through Feb. 10, 2020:
Continue Reading FTC poised to consider regulation of non-competes

In a 5-3 decision penned by Justice Antonin Scalia, the United States Supreme Court made class-action waivers contained in arbitration clauses even more iron-clad by holding that such waivers are enforceable even if the cost of individually arbitrating a federal statutory claim would dwarf the potential recovery.
Continue Reading United States Supreme Court Adds Further Strength to Class-Action Waivers in Arbitration Clauses

The United States Supreme Court last week continued the trend, begun with its 2011 decision in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541, of demanding heightened scrutiny of commonality issues prior to certification of class actions, this time holding that the plaintiffs’ failure to put forward a viable method for calculating class-wide damages was fatal to their efforts to obtain certification.
Continue Reading United States Supreme Court Delivers Major Win for Employers – Once Again Raising the Bar for Certifying Class Actions

The United States Supreme Court delivered a major victory for employers and other perennial class action defendants last week, holding that plaintiffs’ lawyers cannot stipulate to less than a $5 million recovery in order to defeat federal court jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act.
Continue Reading Big Win For Employers – Supreme Court Closes Loophole Used By Plaintiffs’ Lawyers To Defeat Federal Court Jurisdiction Over Class Actions