Advanced Bionics Corp. v. Medtronic, Inc.

MIRIAM A. VOGEL, J.

A Minnesota employee signed a covenant not to compete with his Minnesota employer. A few years later, the employee resigned, moved to California, and went to work for a California employer. On the day he started his new job, the employee and his California employer sued the Minnesota employer for a declaration that the covenant not to compete is unenforceable in California. The next day, the Minnesota employer filed suit in Minnesota and obtained restraining orders to prevent the employee and his California employer from pursuing the first-filed California action. Ultimately, both courts issued restraining orders. On this appeal from the Los Angeles Superior Court's restraining orders, the Minnesota employer contends that, as a matter of comity, the California court should have deferred to the Minnesota court. We conclude that the Minnesota law governing covenants not to compete is contrary to a fundamental policy of California, that California has a materially greater interest than Minnesota in enforcing its law, and that California law will therefore determine the rights of the parties. For those reasons—and because the California action was filed first—we…