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In a case that redefines employment law in Virginia, the State Supreme Court recently issued a definitive ruling on the scope and breadth of not to compete covenants. In Home Paramount Pest Control v. Shaffer, et al., the court agreed with Sickels, Frei & Mims partner Charles Sickels that the employer’s non-compete restriction was overbroad and unenforceable because it effectively restricted former employees from performing any activity whatsoever for any competitor of the former employer’s. Further, the Court said that the Covenant was not reasonably limited to protect only the employer’s legitimate business interests. The Court noted that the law of non-compete agreements had evolved in Virginia since 1989 in Paramount vs. Rector when it had upheld an identical covenant. Sickels represented Paramount in that case. The Court examined the function component of the restrictive covenant to determine whether the covenant was reasonable and no more restrictive than necessary. The restriction in the employment function with a new employer must be related to the functions the employee performed with the former employer.

Read the full opinion: HOME PARAMOUNT PEST CONTROL COMPANIES, INC. v. JUSTIN SHAFFER, ET AL., No. 101837, November 4, 2011, OPINION BY JUSTICE WILLIAM C. MIMS.pdf

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As reported by the Associated Press, the case of The Estate of Daniel Kim versus Virginia Tech, wasn’t about the money, it was about the change in protocol to help students who were in danger of committing suicide. See: In a family’s grief, determination to force university to tell parents of suicidal students

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(November 18, 2011 — Fairfax, VA). Virginia Tech University has agreed to revise policies and protocols regarding parental notification of potentially suicidal students as a result of a lawsuit brought by partner Gary Mims over the suicide death of student Daniel Kim of Reston.
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The Fairfax, Virginia law firm of Sickels, Frei & Mims has earned a Top Tier, Best Law Firm Ranking by US News and World Report in its first-ever publication of law firm rankings. The firm was ranked Top Tier for Personal Injury and Top Tier for Medical Malpractice among all of the law firms in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
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With the near omnipresent discussion about Tort Reform, one can’t help but begin to think that there are too many “frivolous lawsuits” being filed, and even won. Just about the only law suits the news reports on are the ones where someone got a ridiculous verdict for a tiny accident. Are these true? Maybe some of them. But, by and large, they are exaggerated or have missing facts that the news didn’t bother to include. Most people do not realize that there are methods in place to keep truly frivolous suits from being filed – and certainly from going to a jury and being won. But that’s another blog for another time.
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Medical malpractice recently cost a Woodbridge, VA woman her leg. The 57-year old Prince William County woman checked into the hospital for routine knee replacement surgery. In preparing the femur, the surgeon drilled all of the way through the back of the bone and severed her artery. Attempts to repair the artery were unsuccessful and the woman’s leg had to be amputated. The defense argued that the injury was simply a known risk of the procedure. HSFM partner Gary Brooks Mims successfully argued that the surgeon used excessive force when drilling and that his negligence violated the standard of care. The case settled for $1.275 million, which will enable the woman to modify her home and to acquire necessary mobility aids to accommodate her life without her leg.

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