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Description: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma civil litigation lawyers represented Plaintiff, who sued Defendant on a wrongful termination theory.


Plaintiff Chris Whinery was employed by Defendant Premier Funeral Management Group IV, LLC (“Premier”) from the time it purchased his parents' funeral home business in October 2014 until Premier terminated his employment in December 2019. At the time of the purchase, Plaintiff signed a Noncompetition Agreement (“NCA”) containing covenants not to compete with the business or engage in certain conduct. See Pl.'s Pet., Ex. A [Doc. No. 1-3].[2] After his termination, Plaintiff filed this declaratory judgment action in state court challenging the enforceability of his NCA. Premier timely removed the case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction.

After filing its answer, Premier moved to enjoin Plaintiff from violating the NCA, and to enjoin Plaintiff's parents from violating a similar NCA, by operating a competing funeral service business in western Oklahoma. See Def.'s Mot. Prelim. Inj. [Doc. No. 7]. The motion was denied for lack of an underlying claim to support the requested remedy. See 5/15/20 Order [Doc. No. 16] at 3-4. Over Plaintiff's objection, Premier then amended its pleading to add counterclaims for breach of contract and tortious interference with contractual or business relations against Plaintiff and his parents, who were joined as counterclaim defendants. Premier did not renew its motion for injunctive relief. Instead, the parties proceeded under an agreed case schedule and timely filed the instant Motions seeking summary judgment in the movant's favor on all claims, except Premier has moved for judgment only on its breach of contract claim and not its tort claim.


Currently pending before the Court are four dispositive motions filed under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56: Plaintiff Chris Whinery's Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 63]; Defendant Premier Funeral Management Group IV, LLC's Motion for Summary Judgment Against Plaintiff Chris Whinery [Doc. No. 64]; Defendant Premier Funeral Management Group IV, LLC's Motion for Summary Judgment Against Counterclaim Defendants Brad Whinery and Glenda Whinery [Doc. No. 65]; and Counterclaim Defendants Brad Whinery and Glenda Whinery's Combined Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 66]. All these Motions are fully briefed [Doc. Nos. 72 through 79], and because they share relevant facts and common legal issues, the Motions are addressed together.[1]...

Outcome: IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Plaintiff Chris Whinery's Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 63] and Counterclaim Defendants Brad Whinery and Glenda Whinery's Combined Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 66] are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part, and Defendant Premier Funeral Management Group IV, LLC's Motions for Summary Judgment [Doc. Nos. 64 and 65] are DENIED.

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Kent Morlan, Esq.
Editor & Publisher