Employment Litigation & Counseling

Related Professionals

Overview

Our employment litigation and counseling lawyers have significant experience practicing before federal and state courts and a variety of administrative agencies. We are skilled in handling complex employment litigation, including class actions and claims under various statutes such as the FLSA and ERISA. We regularly counsel clients in connection with the ever-increasing number of federal and state statutes and regulations affecting the employment relationship.

We are experienced in actions to enforce non-competition agreements and trade secrets. We represent clients seeking to recover sensitive documents and prevent corporate raiding of staff and customers.

Our ERISA-based litigation spans a wide range of sectors, where we have represented clients in trial and appellate courts nationwide on a wide variety of ERISA issues. We have deep experience with overlapping ERISA claims, securities class actions, derivative actions, and internal and government investigations. Our work includes: Retiree medical liabilities, Title IV, PBGC, and plan termination issues that include multi-employer plan withdrawal liability, bankruptcy issues involving pension plans, ERISA preemption, ERISA Section 510 actions, plan amendment and termination issues, and fiduciary duty litigation.

We also have extensive experience with #metoo litigation and related counseling, at the board level and in the context of sensitive internal investigations.

Experience

Medtronic, Inc., et al. v. Petitti, et al. (Minn. Ct. App.)
Represented St. Jude Medical, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, in an appeal challenging a trial court's temporary injunction order in a non-compete dispute. Kirkland took the case over on appeal, after the trial court had enjoined three St. Jude sales representatives that previously worked at rival Medtronic from soliciting not just their own customers, but also Medtronic customers that they had no contact with while at Medtronic. In 2018, the appellate court reversed and vacated the injunction.
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Co. v. Nisbet, et al. (Cal. Super. Ct.)
Represented Urban Compass, Inc. and its employee, John Nisbit, in a trade secret dispute alleging Mr. Nesbit took confidential information from Coldwell Banker, his former employer, to benefit Compass. Defeated the plaintiff's preliminary injunction in 2016. Ultimately, the parties entered into a settlement agreement.

Baldwin v. IMG Worldwide (C.D. Cal.)
Represented IMG Worldwide, Inc. in a high-profile trade secret litigation against a former IMG sports agent for breach of confidentiality, non-solicitation and misappropriation of trade secrets. The case was dismissed after the parties reached a confidential settlement.

Dollar Shave Club, et al. v. Edgewell Personal Care Co., et al. (Cal. Super. Ct.); Edgewell Personal Care Co. v. O'Malley (Conn. Super. Ct.)
Representing Dollar Shave Club, Inc. and one of its senior executives in two lawsuits in connection to an unlawful non-compete agreement with the executive's former employer alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and enforcement of the non-compete. In 2018, Kirkland achieved a significant victory for its client when it defeated a motion for temporary injunction seeking to enjoin him from working for Dollar Shave Club. Both cases are ongoing.
Watkins, et al. v. Honeywell International Inc. (N.D. Ohio; 6th Cir.)
Represented Honeywell International Inc. in a putative class action brought by a group of Honeywell retirees who alleged the company’s termination of retiree benefits breached their collective bargaining agreement and violated ERISA. In 2016, Kirkland defeated the plaintiffs' preliminary injunction motion and won full dismissal of the case on the premise that the benefits were limited by the term of the collective bargaining agreement. The decision marks a significant shift in how district courts in the Sixth Circuit had previously treated such claims. Affirmed on appeal in 2017.

Practices