“Blue Penciling” Case Was Withdrawn from Court

April 20th, 2012 by JBWK

The long-awaited case pending in the Virginia Supreme Court on “blue penciling” was withdrawn from the Court’s docket on December 15, 2011, less than a month after oral argument.

“Blue penciling” refers to a provision in a noncompetition agreement that allows a court to limit the scope of a noncompete to make it enforceable. Several trial courts in Virginia had refused to enforce the provisions; some had even thrown out the entire noncompete based on the mere presence of a blue penciling provision.

Employment lawyers had been waiting for years for the Virginia Supreme Court to address the issue. However, the case was withdrawn from the Court’s docket shortly after its November 20, 2011 oral argument. It is unclear from the Court’s case docket, but presumably the parties settled the matter and requested its withdrawal.

It was BB&T Insurance Services v. Rutherfoord, Case No. 10-1843.

Comments are closed.