A New York man who secretly sold goods to the U.S. government in violation of his non-compete agreement was hit with a $6.7 million jury verdict last Wednesday after a trial in a Nassau County courthouse, in a sharp rebuke to an ongoing trend of employees bucking non-compete and non-disclosure agreements without consequences.
Yonah Rothman, the former director of government sales for Complete Packaging, a Long Island based company selling goods to the U.S. government, also ran a directly competing business with his son-in-law out of Complete’s upstate satellite office, in secret, the lawsuit alleged. The arrangement was discovered after he accidentally emailed a nearly $600,000 FEMA contract he had secured for his own firm to his then-employer, Complete Packaging.
“The jury’s verdict reaffirms a principle that has been under siege for years, which is that disloyal employees who sign valid non-compete and non-disclosure agreements can and will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said attorney Vess Mitev, who represented Complete Packaging at trial, alongside Brooke Youngwirth. “This award is a complete vindication, at long last, and hopefully serves as a reminder that non-compete and non-disclosure agreements are enforceable and there are consequences to their breach.”
