Turnell v. Continental CentiMark Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
796 F.3d 656 (2015)
Turnell (plaintiff), bound by restrictive covenants in his employment contract with CentiMark (defendant) limiting his ability to work for a competitor after leaving, was fired and immediately began working for competitor Windward Roofing, disregarding the covenants despite acknowledging he knew about them; when CentiMark demanded he stop and Turnell refused, CentiMark sought a preliminary injunction, and the district court granted one permitting Turnell to keep working for Windward but barring him from selling to CentiMark's customers. Turnell appealed.
Whether, in reviewing a motion for a preliminary injunction, a court weighs on a sliding scale the balance of potential irreparable harms to the parties against the moving party's likelihood of success on the merits.