Our new supplier in Texas sent a contract with a non-compete clause that would have locked us out of our own city for five years.

I caught it during our final review last Tuesday and had our lawyer redraft the whole section before we signed, but it made me wonder how many small businesses just sign these things without reading the fine print.

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_hart5321d ago

Wow, that is seriously sneaky. I mean, who even tries that? It's like they hope you're too busy to look it over. Good on you for catching it, because a lot of people probably do just sign. It's scary how common these bad clauses are. Makes you wonder how many get burned by not checking.

mila_murphy2121d ago

Good catch, but a five-year non-compete in your own city is actually unenforceable in a lot of places now. The rules have been changing fast. A lot of states, Texas included, have new laws that make those long restrictions basically worthless. They might still try to scare you with it, but a judge would throw it out. Isn't it crazy how old contract templates just keep getting used?

eva_thompson20d agoTop Commenter

I used to think non-competes were just normal boilerplate stuff, you know? Like @claire_hart53 said, you assume it's standard. But my friend's bakery almost got locked into one that banned them from selling cupcakes within two miles of their own shop, to a supplier. That's when I realized these clauses are often just traps for the busy or trusting. It's not just big companies, it's in deals with local vendors too. Now I read every line.