An Illinois Federal Court Now Pivots Towards Supporting Fifield

I wrote previously about the hostile reception Fifield v. Premier Dealer Services, Inc. had received in Illinois federal courts, which is set forth in my March 6 post "Fifield, Federal Style." Since that time, I have presented at two seminars in which I predicted that a fissure between how state and federal courts perceived the Fifield consideration rule may encourage the Supreme Court of Illinois to take the issue up when it inevitably resurfaces.

Perhaps, I am wrong.

One federal judge in Chicago has disagreed with his federal court counterparts and endorsed Fifield. The case is Instant Technology, LLC v. DeFazio, No. 12-cv-491. Judge Holderman declined to follow the lead of Chief Judge Castillo in Montel Aetnastak, Inc. v. Miessen (and Judge Feinerman in another case) and found that the Supreme Court of Illinois would, indeed, follow the two-year consideration rule from Fifield.

As readers of this blog know all too well by now, Fifield holds that for at-will employees new or continued employment must last at least two years for the employment to serve as consideration supporting a non-compete agreement. It's clear from Fifield that this two-year rule applies to both non-compete and non-solicit covenants, but it almost certainly does not extend to confidentiality restrictions.

Judge Holderman relied on Judge Posner's opinion in Curtis 1000, Inc. v. Suess to justify why Fifield represents the law in Illinois. That case discussed the fact that employment in the at-will context often is illusory because the employer retains full discretion to take away the consideration without fear of liability. Also important to Judge Holderman's analysis were two recent Illinois circuit court decisions that appeared to endorse Fifield. It's rather unusual to see a federal court rely on and cite to unreported trial court cases as support for a ruling. But such is the terra (in)firma that Fifield graced us with.

As I recently wrote, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin is addressing an important question of law concerning consideration for non-competes in the at-will employee context.