After several weeks in trial before the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Ulmer & Berne LLP lawyers Jeffrey S. Dunlap, Ronald H. Isroff and Reem Shalodi secured a major victory for CBIZ, Inc. One of the country’s leading providers of accounting and business services, CBIZ sued four accountants for violating their employment agreements. The accountants abruptly resigned from the company’s Minneapolis office, established a competing accounting firm, solicited CBIZ’s clients and employees and took CBIZ’s client lists and proprietary information.
At the close of evidence, the Court directed a verdict in favor of CBIZ on its breach of contract claims, finding that the evidence submitted by CBIZ proved that the four accountants breached the restrictive covenants contained in their employment agreements. The Court submitted the issue of damages to the jury.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of CBIZ against all four accountants and awarded CBIZ more than $4.45 million in liquidated damages, in accordance with the employment agreements at issue. In addition to obtaining this verdict in favor of CBIZ, Messrs. Dunlap and Isroff and Ms. Shalodi previously secured a permanent injunction against the four accountants.
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