# Court of Appeals Sheds Further Light on Non-Competes

*Published:* 2026-09-02
*Author:* Elizabeth Edwards

A recent Arizona Court of Appeals decision reinforces that Arizona courts will not automatically throw out non-competes and non-solicitation agreements. But the outcome is almost always depends on the specific facts.

What the Case Was About
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A construction equipment salesperson signed a non-solicitation agreement, then left for a direct competitor and allegedly began calling on his former employer’s customers within days. The former employer sued, claiming nearly $500,000 in diverted revenue. The trial court dismissed the case. The Court of Appeals reversed and sent it to trial.

**Three Main Points from the Decision:**

### I. A customer list is a protectable business interest.

Arizona law allows employers to protect legitimate business interests—including customer relationships built on company time. The court held that the mere existence of a customer list is enough to survive dismissal. Whether it’s actually worth protecting is a question for the jury, not the judge.

### II. Twelve months isn’t automatically too long.

Courts rarely strike down restrictions of six to twelve months on duration alone. Here, the salesperson was only prohibited from contacting clients he personally served—a narrow restriction. The fact that he started soliciting those clients immediately (giving his employer zero time to rebuild those relationships) also weighed in favor of enforcing the agreement.

### III. Damages go to the jury.

The employer showed revenue that followed the employee out the door within a week of his departure. That was enough to create a dispute a jury should resolve—even without perfect accounting of the employer’s own lost sales.

What This Means If You’re an Employer
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- Document your customer relationships and your investment in building them.
- Keep restrictions narrow—limit them to the clients the employee actually worked with.
- Act quickly. Courts look favorably on employers who move promptly when an agreement is breached.

What This Means If You’re an Employee
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- Personal relationships with customers may not fully protect you if those relationships deepened during your employment.
- Scope and duration matter—a twelve-month restriction on specific clients is very different from a broad industry-wide ban.
- Before you leave—or before you sign—have an attorney review the agreement.