Entertainment industry news site The Wrap has lost a lawsuit accusing The Information of poaching one of its journalists, reports Eriq Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter.
Gardner writes, “In one case, Sharon Waxman‘s The Wrap filed a tortious interference suit against The Information after reporter Matt Pressberg resigned in December 2017 and took a job at the digital business publication. The Wrap alleged that The Information had intentionally poached its former employee, who was under a two-year contract that wouldn’t terminate until November 2018. Pressberg’s employment deal included a non-compete clause that allowed him to accept a job at The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, but basically nowhere else during his term of service.
“In defense of the suit, The Information successfully convinced Judge Mark Young that it had no knowledge of Pressberg’s contract when it hired him, but perhaps more notably, that Pressberg’s non-compete violated a California code that voids ‘every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind.’
“‘The plain language of the contract restrained [The Wrap‘s] former employee from engaging in his lawful profession even after his employment with [The Wrap] ends,’ states Young’s Dec. 10 summary judgment ruling. ‘In their opposition, Plaintiff appears to argue that Pressberg’s December 1, 2017 resignation was ineffective because he was still under contract to work for Plaintiff until November 2018. The court finds that the contract is void as a matter of law pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 16600.'”
Read more here.
