Litigation Articles
Indiana Supreme Court Monthly Wrap Up
December, 2005
The Indiana Supreme Court issued two decisions in December 2005 that were of interest in the area of civil litigation.
In Dicen v. New Sisco, Inc., the Court issued a clarification of a somewhat confusing point of law. The court found that the rules that apply to a covenant not to compete change according to the context in which the covenant was created. There is one set of rules for a covenant not to compete for an employee and another set of rules for covenants that are entered into as part of the sale of a business. The Dicen decision makes it clear that courts in Indiana will be more willing to enforce noncompete provisions that arise out of a sale of a business than those provisions that apply to employees. The Dicen court further found that even if the business seller becomes an employee of the acquiring company, the broader, more liberal rules of enforcement apply because of the sale-of-a-business context.
In Daimler Chrysler Corp. v. Yeager, an injured driver sought to appeal a preliminary decision of the trial judge before the trial judge rendered a final judgment. The Indiana Supremem Court reinforced the idea that appellants must strictly follow the terms of Appellate Rule 14 when seeking an appeal before a final judgment (i.e., an interlocutory appeal).
BACK TO ARTICLES