DraftKings’ Noncompete Clause Meets Supportive First Circuit

A former DraftKings Inc. executive’s attempt to circumvent a noncompete agreement and work at rival sports-betting company Fanatics is likely to fail, after the First Circuit expressed skepticism that California’s worker-friendly interests should come before Massachusetts’ business protections.

“It’s not clear to me why California’s policy concerns have greater import than Massachusetts’s,” Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson said during oral arguments Monday at the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

DraftKings’ ex-VIP marketing chief Michael Hermalyn took a job at Fanatics despite having signed an agreement that he wouldn’t work for a competing business or solicit other employees until ...