HOUSTON – A Harris County youth soccer club has pursued legal action against four former employees for allegedly breaking their non-competition agreements.
Albion Hurricanes FC claims in a lawsuit filed on June 6 in the Harris County 165th District Court that Ivan Ruddle, Chris Davis, Andrew Smith, and Jeremy Davis each entered into the agreement which prohibited them from soliciting any current worker, player, team, and parent to switch to another club or facility upon their respective hiring.
Recent court documents assert two defendants resigned from their positions with the plaintiff last month. Ruddle reportedly tried to resign but was terminated first for a violation of the club’s rules.
The suit further states that the respondents accepted employment with a newly-formed local team called Dynamo/Dash and “unlawfully Albion’s confidential information to solicit” others presently affiliated with the complainant to join the latter club.
“Their efforts partially succeeded and led to several teams departing from Albion to move to the Dynamo/Dash,” the original petition says. “The departure of those players and teams resulted in a loss of more than $160,000 of Albion’s operating revenue.”
Albion consequently seeks nearly $700,000 in damages and a temporary restraining order.
Harris County District Court records as of June 9 show that defendant Smith formally responded to the suit.
Harris County 165th District Court Case No. 2017-37604