Non-Solicitation Agreement — NDA prevents me from getting new job

Looking for advice on a legal issue. Here's what happened.

NDA prevents me from getting new job. I've been dealing with this for about 3 weeks now and the situation isn't improving.

The contract was signed 14 months ago. I have a copy of the original agreement. The total amount in dispute is approximately $16,000.

What are the risks if I pursue this? What's the likely timeline?

I've seen this play out several times in my field.

In my case, it took about 4-8 months to resolve. The key was filing with the appropriate government agency.

Left my job in medical device sales. My NDA includes a non-solicitation that says I can't "directly or indirectly solicit" any of the company's customers or prospects for 18 months. The problem: in my industry, EVERY hospital is either a customer or a prospect. This effectively bars me from working in my field.

An overbroad non-solicitation that effectively functions as a non-compete is challengeable in most jurisdictions. Courts distinguish between:

• Narrow non-solicitation: Can't contact the specific accounts you personally serviced → usually enforceable
• Broad non-solicitation: Can't contact ANY company customer/prospect → may be treated as a de facto non-compete and subject to stricter scrutiny

Your argument: if the clause prevents you from earning a livelihood in your chosen profession, it's unreasonable in scope. Most states require non-solicitations to be reasonable in scope, geography, and duration.

Practical options: (1) Ask for a declaratory judgment that the clause is unenforceable as overbroad, (2) negotiate a narrower interpretation with your former employer (limit to your specific accounts), (3) in some states, courts will "blue pencil" the clause — narrowing it to what's reasonable rather than voiding it entirely.

Note: if you're in California, non-solicitations of customers are largely unenforceable under Bus. & Prof. Code § 16600. California treats most restrictive covenants as void.