Judge William Skretny
North Carolina-based IDG distributes industrial supplies and materials nationwide. It has an office in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst. It competes with Rochester-based Abrasive-Toolwhich sells many of the same products and suppliesin the Buffalo market. Schupp, formerly an outside salesperson of IDG’s Amherst office, is a salesperson at Abrasive’s Buffalo office. IDG’s Jan. 29, 2010, lawsuit charged Schupp’s breach of a noncompetition agreement (NCA)barring work with any competitor within 50 miles for 12 monthsand confidentiality agreement, as well as unfair competition and theft of trade secrets. Its May 2011 amended complaint charged Abrasive with tortious interference with contract, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. The court granted Abrasive summary judgment dismissing IDG’s claims against it, and only partly granted IDG summary judgment on its claims against Schupp. Statements by IDG’s chief executive suggested that had Schupp refused to sign the NCA, he would have been denied a raise and promotion. Thus Schupp raised a triable fact issue as to whether his promotion and raise were conditioned on his signing the NCA, such that they could be considered part of the consideration for the signing.
