Non-Competition a. Executive acknowledges and recognizes the highly competitive nature of the businesses of the Company and its affiliates and accordingly agrees as follows:
(1) During the Employment Term and for a period of nine months following the date Executive ceases to be employed by the Company for any reason (the “Restricted Period”), Executive will not, whether on Executive’s own behalf or on behalf of or in conjunction with any person, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, corporation or other business organization, entity or enterprise whatsoever (“Person”), directly or indirectly solicit or assist in soliciting in competition with the Company, the business of any customer of the Company or prospective customer of the Company:
(i) with whom Executive had personal contact or dealings on behalf of the Company during the one year period preceding Executive’s termination of employment;
(ii) with whom employees reporting to Executive have had personal contact or dealings on behalf of the Company during the one year immediately preceding Executive’s termination of employment; or
(iii) for whom Executive had direct or indirect responsibility during the one year immediately preceding Executive’s termination of employment.
(2) During the Restricted Period, Executive will not directly or indirectly:
(i) engage in any coal-related business that competes with the business of the Company or its affiliates (including, without limitation, businesses which the Company or its affiliates have specific plans to conduct in the future and as to which Executive is aware of such planning) in the United States (a “Competitive Business”);
(ii) enter the employ of, or render any services to, any Person (or any division or controlled or controlling affiliate of any Person) who or which engages in a Competitive Business;
(iii) acquire a financial interest in, or otherwise become actively involved with, any Competitive Business, directly or indirectly, as an individual, partner, shareholder, officer, director, principal, agent, trustee or consultant;
(iv) interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, business relationships (whether formed before, on or after the date of this Agreement) between the Company or any of its affiliates and customers, clients, suppliers partners, members or investors of the Company or its affiliates, or
(v) disparage the Company or any of its stockholders, directors, officers, employees or agents.
(3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, Executive may, directly or indirectly own, solely as an investment, securities of any Person engaged in the business of the Company or its affiliates which are publicly traded on a national or regional stock exchange or on the over-the-counter market if Executive (i) is not a controlling person of, or a member of a group which controls, such person and (ii) does not, directly or indirectly, own 5% or more of any class of securities of such Person.
(4) During the Employment Term and, for a period of two years following the date Executive ceases to be employed by the Company, Executive will not, whether on Executive’s own behalf or on behalf of or in conjunction with any Person, directly or indirectly:
(i) solicit or encourage any employee of the Company or its affiliates to leave the employment of the Company or its affiliates; or
(ii) hire any such employee who was employed by the Company or its affiliates as of the date of Executive’s termination of employment with the Company or who left the employment of the Company or its affiliates coincident with, or within one year prior to or after, the termination of Executive’s employment with the Company.
(5) During the Restricted Period, Executive will not, directly or indirectly, solicit or encourage to cease to work with the Company or its affiliates any consultant then under contract with the Company or its affiliates.
b. It is expressly understood and agreed that although Executive and the Company consider the restrictions contained in this Section 8 to be reasonable, if a final judicial determination is made by a court of competent jurisdiction that the time or territory or any other restriction contained in this Agreement is an unenforceable restriction against Executive, the provisions of this Agreement shall not be rendered void but shall be deemed amended to apply as to such maximum time and territory and to such maximum extent as such court may judicially determine or indicate to be enforceable. Alternatively, if any court of competent jurisdiction finds that any restriction contained in this Agreement is unenforceable, and such restriction cannot be amended so as to make it enforceable, such finding shall not affect the enforceability of any of the other restrictions contained herein.
Non Competition Non Solicitation and Confidentiality As a condition to the receipt of this Award, you must agree to the Non-Competition, Non-Solicitation and Confidentiality Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit A by executing that Agreement. Failure to execute and return the Non-Competition, Non-Solicitation and Confidentiality Agreement within 120 days of the Grant Date shall constitute your decision to decline to accept this Award.
Employment; Noncompetition; Nondisclosure The Manager has not been notified that any of its executive officers or key employees named in the General Disclosure Package (each, a “Company-Focused Professional”) plans to terminate his or her employment with the Manager or Colony, as the case may be. Neither the Manager nor, to the knowledge of the Manager, any Company-Focused Professional is subject to any noncompete, nondisclosure, confidentiality, employment, consulting or similar agreement that would be violated by the present or proposed business activities of the Company or the Manager as described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.
Non Competition and Confidentiality (a) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary set forth elsewhere herein, the RSUs, the shares of common stock of the Company underlying the RSUs, or any proceeds received by the Key Person upon the sale of shares of common stock of the Company underlying the RSUs shall be forfeited by the Key Person to the Company without any consideration therefore, if the Key Person is not in compliance, at any time during the period commencing on the date of this Agreement and ending nine months following the termination of the Key Person’s affiliation with the Company and/or its subsidiaries, with all applicable provisions of the Plan and with the following conditions:
(i) the Key Person shall not directly or indirectly (1) be employed by, engage or have any interest in any business which is or becomes competitive with the Company or its subsidiaries or is or becomes otherwise prejudicial to or in conflict with the interests of the Company or its subsidiaries, (2) induce any customer of the Company or its subsidiaries to patronize such competitive business or otherwise request or advise any such customer to withdraw, curtail or cancel any of its business with the Company or its subsidiaries, or (3) solicit for employment any person employed by the Company or its subsidiaries; provided, however, that this restriction shall not prevent the Key Person from acquiring and holding up to two percent of the outstanding shares of capital stock of any corporation which is or becomes competitive with the Company or is or becomes otherwise prejudicial to or in conflict with the interests of the Company if such shares are available to the general public on a national securities exchange or in the over-the-counter market; and
(ii) the Key Person shall not use or disclose, except for the sole benefit of or with the written consent of the Company, any confidential information relating to the business, processes or products of the Company.
(b) The Company shall notify in writing the Key Person of any violation by the Key Person of this Section 16. The forfeiture shall be effective as of the date of the occurrence of any of the activities set forth in (a) above. If the shares of common stock of the Company underlying the RSUs have been sold, the Key Person shall promptly pay to the Company the amount of the proceeds from such sale. The Key Person hereby consents to a deduction from any amounts owed by the Company to the Key Person from time to time (including amounts owed as wages or other compensation, fringe benefits or vacation pay) to the extent of the amounts owed by the Key Person to the Company under this Section 16. Whether or not the Company elects to make any set-off in whole or in part, the Key Person agrees to timely pay any amounts due under this Section 16. In addition, the Company shall be entitled to injunctive relief for any violation by the Key Person of subsection (a)(ii) of this Section 16.
Non-Competition Agreement (a) Executive shall not, during the term of his employment hereunder, be engaged in any other business activity pursued for gain, profit or other pecuniary advantage if such activity interferes in any material respect with Executive's duties and responsibilities hereunder. The foregoing limitations shall not be construed as prohibiting Executive from making personal investments in such form or manner as will neither require his services in the operation or affairs of the companies or enterprises in which such investments are made nor violate the terms of this paragraph 3. In addition, Executive shall not, during the period of his employment by or with the Company, and for a period of two (2) years immediately following the termination of his employment under this Agreement, for any reason whatsoever, other than a termination by the Company without cause or by Executive for Good Reason, directly or indirectly, for himself or on behalf of or in conjunction with any other person, company, partnership, corporation or business of whatever nature:
(i) engage, as an officer, director, shareholder, owner, partner, joint venturer, or in a managerial capacity, whether as an employee, independent contractor, consultant or advisor, or as a sales representative, in any business in direct competition with the Company or Metals, within 200 miles of where the Company or any of Metals' subsidiaries conducts business, including any territory serviced by the Company or Metals or any of such subsidiaries (the "Territory");
(ii) call upon any person who is, at that time, within the Territory, an employee of the Company or Metals (including the respective subsidiaries thereof) in a managerial capacity for the purpose or with the intent of enticing such employee away from or out of the employ of the Company or Metals (including the respective subsidiaries thereof);
(iii) call upon any person or entity which is, at that time, or which has been, within one (1) year prior to that time, a customer of the Company or Metals (including the respective subsidiaries thereof) within the Territory for the purpose of soliciting or selling products or services in direct competition with the Company or Metals within the Territory;
(iv) call upon any prospective acquisition candidate, on Executive's own behalf or on behalf of any competitor, which candidate was, to Executive's actual knowledge after due inquiry, either called upon by the Company or Metals (including the respective subsidiaries thereof) or for which the Company or Metals made an acquisition analysis, for the purpose of acquiring such entity. Notwithstanding the above, the foregoing covenant shall not be deemed to prohibit Executive from acquiring as an investment not more than one percent (1%) of the capital stock of a competing business, whose stock is traded on a national securities exchange or on an over-the-counter or similar market.
(b) Because of the difficulty of measuring economic losses to the Company and Metals as a result of a breach of the foregoing covenant, and because of the immediate and irreparable damage that could be caused to the Company and Metals for which they would have no other adequate remedy, Executive agrees that the foregoing covenant may be enforced by Metals or the Company in the event of breach by him, by injunctions and restraining orders.
(c) It is agreed by the parties that the foregoing covenants in this paragraph 3 impose a reasonable restraint on Executive in light of the activities and business of the Company or Metals, as the case may be (including Metals' other subsidiaries) on the date of the execution of this Agreement and the current plans of Metals (including Metals' other subsidiaries); but it is also the intent of the Company and Executive that such covenants be construed and enforced in accordance with the changing activities, business and locations of the Company and Metals, as the case may be (including Metals' other subsidiaries) throughout the term of this covenant, whether before or after the date of termination of the employment of Executive. For example, if, during the term of this Agreement, the Company or Metals, as the case may be (including Metals' other subsidiaries) engages in new and different activities, enters a new business or establishes new locations for its current activities or business in addition to or other than the activities or business enumerated under the Recitals above or the locations currently established therefor, then Executive will be precluded from soliciting the customers or employees of such new activities or business or from such new location and from directly competing with such new business within 200 miles of its then-established operating location(s) through the term of this covenant. It is further agreed by the parties hereto that, in the event that Executive shall cease to be employed hereunder, and shall enter into a business or pursue other activities not in competition with the Company or Metals (including Metals' other subsidiaries), or similar activities or business in locations the operation of which, under such circumstances, does not violate clause (i) of this paragraph 3, and in any event such new business, activities or location are not in violation of this paragraph 3 or of Executive's obligations under this paragraph 3, if any, Executive shall not be chargeable with a violation of this paragraph 3 if the Company or Metals (including Metals' other subsidiaries) shall thereafter enter the same, similar or a competitive (i) business, (ii) course of activities or (iii) location, as applicable.
(d) The covenants in this paragraph 3 are severable and separate, and the unenforceability of any specific covenant shall not affect the provisions of any other covenant. Moreover, in the event any court of competent jurisdiction shall determine that the scope, time or territorial restrictions set forth are unreasonable, then it is the intention of the parties that such restrictions be enforced to the fullest extent which the court deems reasonable, and the Agreement shall thereby be reformed.
(e) All of the covenants in this paragraph 3 shall be construed as an agreement independent of any other provision in this Agreement, and the existence of any claim or cause of action of Executive against the Company or Metals, whether predicated on this Agreement or otherwise, shall not constitute a defense to the enforcement by Metals or the Company of such covenants. It is specifically agreed that the period of two (2) years following termination of employment stated at the beginning of this paragraph 3, during which the agreements and covenants of Executive made in this paragraph 3 shall be effective, shall be computed by excluding from such computation any time during which Executive is in violation of any provision of this paragraph 3.
Protection of Confidential Information; Non-Competition 4.1. Executive acknowledges that:
(1) As a result of his current employment with the Company, Executive will obtain secret and confidential information concerning the business of the Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates (referred to collectively in this Article 4 as the “Company”), including, without limitations, financial information, designs and other proprietary rights, trade secrets and “know-how,” customers and sources (“Confidential Information”).
(2) The Company will suffer substantial damage which will be difficult to compute if, during the period of his employment with the Company or thereafter, Executive should enter a business competitive with the Company or divulge Confidential Information.
(3) The provisions of this Agreement are reasonable and necessary for the protection of the business of the Company.
4.2. Executive agrees that he will not at any time, either during the term of this Agreement or thereafter, divulge to any person or entity any Confidential Information obtained or learned by him as a result of his employment with the Company, except (i) in the course of performing his duties hereunder, (ii) to the extent that any such information is in the public domain other than as a result of Executive’s breach of any of his obligations hereunder, (iii) where required to be disclosed by court order, subpoena or other government process or (iv) if such disclosure is made without Executive’s knowing intent to cause material harm to the Company. If Executive shall be required to make disclosure pursuant to the provisions of clause (iii) of the preceding sentence, Executive promptly, but in no event more than 72 hours after learning of such subpoena, court order, or other government process, shall notify, by personal delivery or by electronic means, confirmed by mail, the Company and, at the Company’s expense, Executive shall: (a) take reasonably necessary and lawful steps required by the Company to defend against the enforcement of such subpoena, court order or other government process, and (b) permit the Company to intervene and participate with counsel of its choice in any proceeding relating to the enforcement thereof.
4.3. Upon termination of his employment with the Company, Executive will promptly deliver to the Company all memoranda, notes, records, reports, manuals, drawings, blue-prints and other documents (and all copies thereof) relating to the business of the Company and all property associated therewith, which he may then possess or have under his control; provided, however, that the Executive shall be entitled to retain one copy of such documents for his personal use and records.
4.4. During the period commencing with the start date of employment under this agreement and terminating three years after termination of employment: (A) Executive, without the prior written permission of the Company, shall not, anywhere in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan, (i) enter into the employ of or render any services to any person, firm or corporation engaged in any business which is directly in competition with the Company’s principal existing business at the time of termination (“Competitive Business”); (ii) engage in any Competitive Business as an individual, partner, shareholder, creditor, director, officer, principal, agent, employee, trustee consultant, advisor or in any other relationship or capacity; (iv) employ, or have or cause any other person or entity to employ, any person who was employed by the Company at the time of termination of Executive’s employment by the Company (other than Executive’s personal secretary and assistant); or (v) solicit, interfere with, or endeavor to entice away from the Company, for the benefit of a Competitive Business, any of its customers. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Executive shall not be precluded from investing and managing the investment of, his or his family’s assets in the securities of any corporation or other business entity which is engaged in a Competitive Business if such securities are traded on a national stock exchange or in the over-the-counter market and if such investment does not result in his beneficially owning, at any time, more than 5% of any class of the publicly-traded equity securities of such Competitive Business; provided, however, that for a period commencing with the start date of employment under this agreement and terminating three years after termination of Executive’s employment (except for investments in a class of securities trading on public markets), Executive shall refer to the Company for consideration (before any other party) any and all opportunities to acquire or purchase, or otherwise make equity or debt investments in, companies primarily involved in a Competitive Business if such opportunities becomes known to Executive while he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. If the Company determines not to exploit any opportunity referred to in the foregoing sentence, the Company shall determine what, if anything, should be done with such opportunity. Executive shall not be entitled to any compensation, as a finder or otherwise, if either the Company or Executive introduces such opportunity to other persons, it being understood that all such compensation shall be paid to the Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event the Company terminates this Agreement without “cause” or if Executive terminates this Agreement for Good Reason under Section 3.5 hereof, Executive’s obligations under this Section 4.4 shall terminate one month following termination.
4.5. If Executive commits a breach of any of the provisions of Sections 4.2 or 4.4, the Company shall have the right:
(1) to have the provisions of this Agreement specifically enforced by any court having equity jurisdiction, it being acknowledged and agreed by Executive that the services being rendered hereunder to the Company are of a special, unique and extraordinary character and that any breach or threatened breach will cause irreparable injury to the Company and that money damages will not provide an adequate remedy to the Company; and
(2) to require Executive to account for and pay over to the Company all monetary damages determined by a non-appealable decision by a court of law to have been suffered by the Company as the result of any actions constituting a breach of any of the provisions of Section 4.2 or 4.4, and Executive hereby agrees to account for and pay over such damages to the Company (up to the maximum of all payments made under the Agreement).
4.6. If Executive shall violate any covenant contained in Section 4.4, the duration of such covenant so violated shall be automatically extended for a period of time equal to the period of such violation.
4.7. If any provision of Sections 4.2 or 4.4 is held to be unenforceable because of the scope, duration or area of its applicability, the tribunal making such determination shall not have the power to modify such scope, duration, or area, or all of them and such provision or provisions shall be void ab initio.
Covenant Against Competition During the period of Participant’s employment and for two (2) years after his or her Last Day of Employment, Participant acknowledges and agrees he or she will not, directly or indirectly, establish or engage in any business or organization, or own or control any interest in, be employed by, or act as an officer, director, consultant, advisor, or lender to, any of the following located in those geographic markets where Participant has had direct and substantial involvement in Company’s operations in such geographic markets: (a) any entity that engages in any business competitive with the business activities of Company including, without limitation, its assisted and digital (including software) tax services businesses (“Prohibited Companies”); (b) any financial institution or business where any of Participant’s duties or activities would relate to or assist in providing services or products to one or more of the Prohibited Companies for use in connection with products, services or assistance being provided to customers; or (c) any financial institution or business whose primary purpose is to provide services or products to one or more of the Prohibited Companies for use in connection with products, services or assistance being provided to customers. Without limiting clause (c), any financial institution or business whose profits or revenues from the provision of services or products to the Prohibited Companies exceeds 25% of total profits or revenues, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be covered by clause (c). For Participants whose primary place of employment as of the Last Day of Employment is in Puerto Rico or Arizona, the restrictions in this Section 2.2 shall be limited to one (1) year following Participant’s Last Day of Employment. The restrictions in this Section 2.2 shall not apply if Participant’s primary place of employment as of the Last Day of Employment is in California or North Dakota; provided, however, to the extent permitted under such states’ laws, Company nevertheless retains all rights and remedies set forth in Sections 2.8 and 2.9 in lieu of enforcing the restrictive covenant set forth in this Section 2.2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Participant has a standalone employment agreement with Company and such employment agreement includes covenants against competition or non-solicitation of customers, the scope, but not the duration, of such covenants shall apply solely for purposes of Sections 2.2 and 2.4, but shall have no other effect on this Award Agreement. All other covenants contained in this Section 2 shall apply to Participant notwithstanding any covenants or other terms contained in any other agreement.
Non-Competition; Non-Solicitation; Confidentiality (a) For a period from the Closing Date until the fifth (5th) anniversary of the Closing Date, neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries shall, directly or indirectly, own, manage, operate, control or participate in the ownership, management, operation or control of any business, whether in corporate, proprietorship or partnership form or otherwise, engaged in the Business or that otherwise competes with the Business (a “Restricted Business”). The parties hereto specifically acknowledge and agree that the remedy at law for any breach of the foregoing will be inadequate and that Newco, in addition to any other relief available to it, shall be entitled to temporary and permanent injunctive relief without the necessity of proving actual damage or posting any bond whatsoever.
(b) For a period from the Closing Date to the fifth (5th) anniversary of the Closing Date, neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries shall: (i) cause, solicit, induce or encourage any Employees of the Company to leave such employment or hire, employ or otherwise engage any such individual; or (ii) cause, induce or encourage any material actual or prospective client, customer, supplier or licensor of the Business (including any existing or former customer of the Company and any Person that becomes a client or customer of the Business after the Closing) or any other Person who has a material business relationship with the Business, to terminate or modify any such actual or prospective relationship.
(c) The covenants and undertakings contained in this Section 6.7 relate to matters which are of a special, unique and extraordinary character and a violation of any of the terms of this Section 6.7 will cause irreparable injury to Newco, the amount of which will be impossible to estimate or determine and which cannot be adequately compensated. Accordingly, the remedy at law for any breach of this Section 6.7 will be inadequate. Therefore, Newco will be entitled to an injunction, restraining order or other equitable relief from any court of competent jurisdiction in the event of any breach of this Section 6.7. The rights and remedies provided by this Section 6.7 are cumulative and in addition to any other rights and remedies which Newco may have hereunder or at law or in equity.
(d) The parties hereto agree that, if any court of competent jurisdiction in a final nonappealable judgment determines that a specified time period, a specified geographical area, a specified business limitation or any other relevant feature of this Section 6.7 is unreasonable, arbitrary or against public policy, then a lesser time period, geographical area, business limitation or other relevant feature which is determined by such court to be reasonable, not arbitrary and not against public policy may be enforced against the applicable party.
(e) The Company shall use its commercially reasonable efforts to obtain the agreement of the Subsidiaries of the Company to the provisions of this Section 6.7 in form and content reasonably satisfactory to Newco.
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Agreement Without the prior written consent of the Company, Employee shall not, during the term of this Agreement, or for a two (2) year period of time following the date of termination of this Agreement or the termination of Employee's employment with the Company:
a. Solicit business from, attempt to do business with, or do business with any customer of the Company which either: (1) Employee initially called on, initially serviced, initially did business with or had initial contact with during his/her employment at the Company; or (2) Employee became initially acquainted with or received Confidential Information regarding as a result of his/her employment at the Company. This restriction applies only to businesses that are within the scope of services or products provided by the Company.
b. Induce, solicit or attempt to solicit or induce any employee of the Company (or any affiliate of the Company) to leave their employment with the Company and/or accept employment elsewhere.
Non-Solicitation; Non-Competition (a) In further consideration of the compensation to be paid to Executive hereunder, Executive acknowledges that in the course of his employment with the Company Group, he has and will continue to become familiar with the Company Group’s trade secrets and with other Confidential Information concerning the Company Group and that his services shall be of special, unique and extraordinary value to the Company Group. Therefore, Executive agrees that while an employee of the Company Group, Executive will not directly or indirectly compete against any member of the Company Group or directly or indirectly divert or attempt to divert any business from any member of the Company Group anywhere such company is doing business.
(b) Executive agrees that for the twelve (12) months following the termination of his employment, Executive will not, directly or indirectly, solicit for the purpose of providing, or otherwise provide, any products or services competitive with the products or services offered by (or planned to be offered by, assuming Executive was aware of those plans while employed by Company) the Company Group to any customer of the Company Group with whom/which Executive had contact on behalf of the Company Group during the twenty-four (24) months preceding the end of Executive’s employment with the Company.
(c) Executive agrees that for the twelve (12) months following the termination of his employment, Executive will not, directly or indirectly, solicit for the purpose of providing, or otherwise provide, any products or services competitive with the products or services offered by (or planned to be offered by, assuming Executive was aware of those plans while employed by Company) the Company Group to any customer of the Company Group about whom/which Executive acquired non-public information during the twenty-four (24) months preceding the end of Executive’s employment with the Company.
(d) Executive agrees that for the twelve (12) months following the termination of his employment, Executive will not request or advise any customer, supplier, licensee, licensor, landlord or other business relation of the Company Group with whom/which Executive had contact on behalf of the Company Group during the twenty-four (24) months preceding the termination of Executive’s employment with the Company to withdraw, curtail or cancel its business dealings with such member of the Company Group.
(e) Executive agrees that for the twelve (12) months following the termination of his employment, Executive will not directly or indirectly recruit or solicit any employee of the Company Group for employment or encourage any employee of the Company Group to leave such member of the Company Group’s employ. An employee shall be deemed covered by this clause (e) while employed by the Company Group and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter.
(f) In addition, Executive agrees that for the twelve (12) months following the termination of his employment, Executive will not provide, in any capacity, Restricted Services to any business located in the United States or Germany which provides services or products competitive with those sold or provided by any member of the Company Group during the twenty-four (24) months preceding the end of Executive’s employment with the Company. The term “Restricted Services” shall mean services similar to those which Executive provided any member of the Company Group during the twenty-four (24) months preceding Executive’s termination of employment, for whatever reason, and which would involve use or disclosure of the Company’s Confidential Information.
