Kelly Services Wins Attorneys’ Fees in Noncompete Case

Staffing company Kelly Services Inc. is entitled to recover attorneys’ fees from former employees it sued for violating their noncompete agreements, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Jan. 10.

Attorneys’ fees in an ongoing case don’t have to be calculated by a jury under the Seventh Amendment, the appeals court wrote in an unpublished opinion.

The three former employees—Dale de Steno, Jonathan Persico, and Nathan Peters—signed employment agreements that barred them from working for competing companies for one year after leaving Kelly. The agreements also said that the employees would pay any legal fees Kelly ...