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No, En Vogue Can Not Prove A Legitimate Business Interest

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No, En Vogue cannot prove a legitimate business interest because En Vogue did not have a notable investment in training Ms. Ramirez. In order to establish extraordinary or specialized training as a legitimate business interest, the training must provide defendant a unique skill or an enhanced degree of a previous skill, which goes beyond following directions from a box or learning from a person of ordinary education by reading a manual, and the defendant uses those skills to benefit a competitor. Hapney v. Central Garage, Inc., So.2d 127, 132 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991).
One of the factors the court looks at is the employer’s investment toward the defendant’s training. Hapney v. Central Garage, Inc., So.2d 127, 132 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. …show more content…

Id. at 1217. The defendant also became a certified technician during his employment because the employer dedicated so much time and money in the training an inexperienced employee, the court held there was a legitimate business interest in need of protection. Id. at 1216. Plaintiff’s investment in defendant’s training is used to the benefit of a competitor. Hapney v. Central Garage, Inc., So.2d 127, 132 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991). In Milner, the defendant went to multiple trainings and used these specialized skills to perform installations, cabling, repair and service work on telephone system, which is the same type of work he did for the plaintiff. Milner Voice & Data, Inc. v. Tassy, 377 F. Supp. 2d 1209, 1216 (S.D. Fla. 2005). Defendant sent letters and emails relating to subcontracting for installation and service connected to the same phone service as plaintiff. Id. at 1217. Defendant helped install telephone system sold to direct customer of plaintiff, which was the same job he proposed when he was working for the plaintiff. Id. at 1218. Defendant had also performed service and repair for several of plaintiff’s clients because plaintiff’s substantial investment in training, the defendant used his training to benefit plaintiff’s competitor. Therefore, the court held that the plaintiff had a substantial investment in need of protection. Id. No, En Vogue cannot prove extraordinary or specialized training as a legitimate

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