In what attorneys say is one of the first cases citing the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed rule banning non-competes, Holland & Knight lawyers successfully pushed back in federal district court in Tampa against a strategy of suing first to declare an agreement illegal.

Matthew Zimmerman and David Cannella are partners based in West Palm Beach and Orlando, respectively. They represent the defendant and counter claimant, USI Insurance Services, against the plaintiffs and counter defendants, who include Matthew Simmons and Jack Mitchell, after they abruptly departed to the counter-defendant, Lockton Companies Inc.