Non-Compete Agreements

A Covenant Not to Compete is an agreement that restrains or prevents a business or individual from engaging in a particular activity. These Covenants are usually not favored by the courts, and as such, are looked at through skeptical eyes. Covenants Not to Compete are often used in two primary areas, the first being in Employment Agreements and the second being in the purchase/sale of a business.

An Employer might want an Employee to sign a Covenant Not to Compete where the Employer is engaged in the business of sales, had certain trade secrets or deals with sensitive information. You can imagine the scenario where Salesman A joins Company B, starts working off of Company Bs customer lists, and then decides to leave for a new job. Inevitably, he will attempt to take the Company Bs client list with him. Such is the need for a Covenant Not to Compete. If properly drafted and executed, the Covenant Not to Compete will prevent Salesman A from taking the client list with him, and in most circumstances, will prevent Salesman A from even working for another company that sells product similar to Company B.

Covenants Not to Compete can also be essential to the purchase of a business. Imagine the scenario where Rookie Financial Advisor purchases an existing Financial Practice from Veteran. Rookie would want to ensure that Veteran did not just simply move down the street a block and open a new financial planning office that would compete with Rookie for business.

Covenants Not to Compete follow the general rules of basic Contract Law, namely that there must be an Offer, Acceptance and Consideration for the Covenant. The Offer would be evidenced by the Covenant, the Acceptance would be evidenced by the Employees signature and the Consideration would be evidenced by the Employer giving something of value to the Employee. If the Covenant is offered at the inception of employment, the Consideration would be the actual obtaining of the job. If the Covenant is offered after the Employee is hired, some additional inducement or consideration must be offered to the Employee, or the Covenant may be found to be invalid.

Courts have also found that Covenants Not to Compete must be equitable in both distance and duration. What that means is that the length (time frame) of the Covenant and the distance that it applies to must be fair. For instance, in the above financial planning scenario, the Covenant Not to Compete might prevent Veteran from working for or opening a financial practice in the same county or in the same half of the state as the financial practice that was sold, and the limitation may apply for a period of perhaps two years. In Pennsylvania, where I practice law, such a Covenant might be found to be fair. A Covenant that sets forth that Veteran could not work again in the Financial Planning field anywhere in the United States for the rest of his life would likely be found to be invalid.

Greg Artim is an Attorney based in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. For more information on related legal issues, please visit his website at http://www.gregartim.com or visit his Pennsylvania Lemon Law website at http://www.ihatethislemon.com

Savagely Criticized for his Continuous Loss of Form

India have convincingly won the Nottingham test against England by 7 wickets their 29th test victory abroad in 75 years. This victory gives the visitors an edge over the home team in the current 3 test series. Among other things what makes this Indian victory more important is the return of batting form of Sachin Tendulkar. It was the little masters resolute innings of 91 runs studded with 12 glittering fours around which Indias big 481 run total was built. In fact not only Sachin but the entire Indian batting lineup with the exception of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the three medium pacers [Zaheer, R.P.Singh and Sreesanth] rose to the occasion and made useful contributions towards Indias match-winning 1st innings score. Obviously victory would not have been possible with out the spirited bowling by man of the match Zaheer khan and co. But a special mention of Sachins return to form is being made, as it augurs well for the current Indian team, hopefully for at least a couple of years more.

The former master-blaster was subjected to severe criticism for some time till recently for the uncertain batting form over the considerable period of time. Many critics all over the world and many back home cried for his head. Even some great past masters, and the list included the likes of great Ian Chappell and former Pakistani wicket keeper Moin Khan said that it was high time Sachin called it a day and that he [Sachin] wanted to remain in the team for wrong reason! Such harsh criticisms must have had pained Sachin to no end. But he remained calm and perhaps made up his mind to give a fitting reply to his critics through his bat.

Mercifully, post world cup period till date has been rewarding for Sachin. Granted that he is not the same master blaster as the world has seen him in the nineties. Certainly the worlds greatest batsman of our era has mellowed down considerably. It is also true that the masters reflexes are no more the same as they used to be a decade ago, when he used to thrash the worlds best attack with disdain. Now the runs do not flow from Sachins willow as smoothly and as effortlessly as they used to before. Instead he has to labour hard these days to build his innings. But that is no problem so long there is that insatiable hunger for runs in him. Perhaps this hunger prevented the Don Bradman of our times to call it a day after that disastrous world cup performance.

Sachin knew it and strongly believed that the day had not yet come for him to bid adieu to international cricket. So, unlike some other contemporary great cricketers, Sachin did not hurry to announce retirement from any form of international cricket. But there was no stopping the critics and the cricket fans who constantly demanded that Sachin be dropped from the Indian team and the national selectors obliged by, resting him along with Saurav Ganguly during the Indo-Bangla one day series that followed immediately after the world cup.

Sachin returned with a bang in the test series which was held immediately after the one day series clouting two separate hundreds in two tests. These efforts earned Sachin man of the series award. The Bangladesh tour was followed by tours of Ireland and now of England. This time the national selectors did not dare to drop him or rest him. He was chosen for both the one day matches and test matches. One-day matches were played against Ireland and South Africa. Two sterling knock of near hundred [99 and 93] put Sachin firmly in the Indian one-day squad. He was again adjudged man of the series. This time in the one-day international series and that too against a team like South Africa!

Sachin has carried on his good form with the bat to the test series against England which follows the series in Ireland. One wishes that this golden touch remains with the golden boy of Indian cricket not only in the next test and the one day series against England but till the end of his active cricketing days.

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Mortgage Protection Insurance Leads... Easy Sales, But Are They Profitable?

Is there an easier sale than the mortgage protection sale? I dont think so and the reason is because of the perceived need on the part of the prospect. The prospect knows the amount of the mortgage and it becomes a need that needs to be protected. It is just as simple as that, perceived need.

As an agent I want to gather all the clients I can without out burdening myself with huge service issues and the mortgage market provides just such a opportunity.

As a business person if I were to assess the dynamics of the mortgage protection market it would appear to a mistake because the amount of compensation is low. If it were only based on that factor I would have to agree. A significant amount of work goes in to the mortgage protection sale all the way from the lead generation to the overhead costs to the general cost of being in business. So what is the reason for this type of sale? Why would I want to work in this market? It is not for the mortgage protection sale, it is for the ancillary sale.

Once a prospect has and understands a perceived need then the opportunity exists for an expansion of the relationship. It can be expanded into many other segments of their financial world.

The difficulty lies in how to expand the relationship and that is where the art meets the salesmanship. To be different than other agents requires you to think differently. Thinking differently means thinking beyond the transaction sale, thinking of the relationship not as a transaction but as an evolution to a client/counselor relationship. The tool of choice is a fact fining process that expands your understanding of the clients needs and goals. Any solid fact finder will help you understand how a client feels and how your products can increase the quality of their life.

Transactions are extremely limiting and are very unproductive for the professional salesperson. The opposite is true; relationship sales will provide a greater opportunity to enjoy future sales and to grow a list of quality referrals.

Bill Broich is thirty year annuity salesman who helps agents generate leads and sales. To discover more visit his website: Mortgage Protection Insurance Leads

Life Insurance Claim Denial- Don't Let it Happen to You

Insurance, especially life insurance, can be a very confusing topic for most Americans. We often pay various insurance premiums our whole lives. Understanding the nuts and bolts of your life insurance policies can benefit you and your family greatly in the unfortunate event of your death or the death of a family member.

Life insurance comes in a bewildering array of variations. There's whole life insurance, variable life insurance, and universal life insurance, all of which are collectively known as cash value life insurance policies. With these policies, a portion of the premium you pay goes to purchase insurance coverage, while another portion is used as an investment. Taxes on the investment portion of the policy are generally deferred until you collect the proceeds.

If you are married, especially if you have dependent children, or if you have debts such as a mortgage, car payment, or credit card balances, your family could be at serious financial risk if you should die suddenly and your income were suddenly no longer available. Spouses are often left unable to make all the payments, raise the children, educate them, etc. on a single income. Life insurance is your familys protection against the drastic lifestyle changes that occur in the event of your death.

We tend to think that if we buy life insurance and pay the premiums, then upon our death, collecting the life insurance will be easy for our beneficiary, but that is not always the case. Life insurance companies review each claim carefully before parting with their money and some life insurance claims are denied. Apart from fraud in the policy on the part of the policy holder, the most common ground life insurers use to deny claims is that there was a "material misrepresentation" on the life insurance application. That misrepresentation may occur in the original application for insurance or in a later amendment to the application.

A material misrepresentation sufficient to deny a claim cannot be just any misstatement. Under many states' laws, a material misrepresentation is one that, if fully and truthfully disclosed, would have led to refusal by the insurance company to issue the life insurance policy. Material misrepresentations accusations are commonly made about just about anything on the life insurance application including the person's employment history, age, income, other insurance in force, whether or not they smoke cigarettes, driving record, drinking history, hobbies, etc. The most commonly alleged misrepresentations involve the applicant's heath and medical history.

Recovering money from an insurance company that denies a life insurance claim is no easy task. Many life insurance claims are paid without much fuss on the part of the insurer, but there are times when claims are delayed and denied. The claims that are subject to the most suspicion are the ones filed in the first two years the policy is in force. In many states, the insurance company can deny the claim by retroactively rejecting the application if it finds that the application contained a material misrepresentation.

Like most insurance companies, life insurance companies are regulated on the state level. If you have questions regarding your claim, its delay or its denial, contact your state department of insurance and an experienced life insurance claim denial attorney.

If your life insurance claim has been delayed or denied in New York or New Jersey, please contact the Insurance Litigation Attorneys at Trief & Olk.