Ex-Pratt & Whitney Exec, Others Acquitted in No-Poach Case

Lisa Phelan spoke to Bloomberg Law for an article about a former aerospace company manager and five other aerospace industry executives who convinced a judge to acquit them of criminal charges brought by the Justice Department (DOJ) that they agreed not to hire each other’s workers.

According to Lisa, it’s rare for a judge to grant a mid-trial motion for acquittal in a criminal antitrust case. She added that the judge considering the motion must view all evidence already presented in the most favorable possible light for the government.

“The implication for this is that the DOJ may have a real challenge trying to bring no poach cases that involve only a non-solicitation agreement (one company will not proactively seek to recruit another company’s employees) as criminal per se offenses,” Lisa said. “A strict no hire agreement may be more likely to be accepted by courts as an appropriate criminal allocation, and thus per se, offense.”

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