2007AP617 Star Direct, Inc., v. Dal Pra

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Employment
Noncompete clauses

An unenforceable noncompete clause can be severed from enforceable customer and confidentiality clauses in an employment contract.

"The foundational inquiry for determining whether a covenant is divisible is whether, if the unreasonable portion is stricken, the other provision or provisions may be understood and independently enforced. This inquiry will be fact-intensive and depend on the totality of the circumstances. In the context of multiple non-compete provisions in a contract, indivisibility will usually be seen by an intertwining, or inextricable link, between the various provisions via a textual reference such that one provision cannot be read or interpreted without reference to the other. Restrictive covenants are divisible when the contract contains different covenants supporting different interests that can be independently read and enforced. Overlap, even substantial overlap, between clauses is not necessarily determinative. Employers may have several protectable interests that apply in similar, though not exactly the same, situations and it makes sense to set these out in separate post-termination restrictive covenants."

Affirmed in part, and Reversed in part.

2007AP617 Star Direct, Inc., v. Dal Pra

Gableman, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Shumaker, Robert E., Madison; Troupis, Sarah E., Madison; For Respondent: Seibold, Gregory P., Madison; Barker, Daniel D., Madison; Kennedy, Bradley G., Madison

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