Noncompete agreements, set to be relegated to history as of this month, remain relevant for now in an increasingly complex environment for companies evaluating how to treat such agreements in a restructuring scenario. In addition to the outcome of a likely appeal of a Texas federal court's Aug. 20 nationwide injunction staying the effectiveness of a new federal rule banning such agreements, companies contemplating Chapter 11 must now grapple with a decision from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan which addresses, in a novel way, the enforceability of noncompete agreements under Section 365. Coupled with the now-stayed FTC rule on noncompete agreements, this decision raises challenging questions regarding the treatment of executory contracts and noncompetes going forward.