Question

Medtronic, inc., is a medical technology company that competes for customers with st. jude medical s.c., inc. james hughes worked for medtronic as a sales manager. his contract legally prohibited him from working for a competitor for one year after leaving medtronic. in an effort to expand their business, st. jude contacted hughes about joining them. hughes felt dissatisfied with conditions at medtronic, and so began negotiations with st. jude. hughes shared his current contract with st. jude's executives, who told him that his contract with medtronic was unenforceable and offered him a job as a sales director at a significant higher salary. hughes accepted. medtronic filed a suit against st. jude, alleging wrongful interference. did wrongful interference occur and if so, which type of wrongful interference occurred?

Answer 1

Yes, wrongful interference did occur. This would be considered tortious interference and not tort of negligent interference because St. Jude's knew about James' contract with Medtronic and encouraged James to breach that contract. All of the elements of tortious interference are there in this case. There existed a contractual relationship between James and st. Jude's that prohibited him from working at a competitor for one year after leaving Medtronic. St. Jude's, a third party, was made aware of this contract. St. Jude's clearly demonstrated intent to have a party (James) breach that contract by saying that it was "unenforceable." St. Jude's does not have the privilege to nullify this contract and then a breach did occur when James started working at St. Jude's. It may be difficult to prove that any economic damage occurred with Medtronic due to the breach, but there are enough of the factors present to prove tortious interference.