The barbers are brawling in Madison. Barber Mike Land asked a Madison County Chancellor to force several of his former barbers to either put up the shears or pay up to him after they allegedly violated their non-compete agreements.
Mike Land owns Family Barber in Madison. He hired Matt Heath on March 4, 2019 as an "independent service provider" to cut hair. Land claimed Heath signed an agreement (p.6 below) that contained a non-compete clause. The non-compete provision prohibits Heath from plying his trade for one year after separation within a 15-mile radius of the Family Barber. The agreement requires the defendant to pay $3,300 if the contract is breached.
The complaint states Heath stopped working at Family Barber on November 10, 2019 and began working at Noble Barber in Ridgeland. Land says Heath did not have permission to work there and the salon is within the 15 mile radius. The agreement is attached to the lawsuit. Both parties signed the agreement. (See p.11 below.)
Land charges Heath with breach of contract and seeks compensatory as well as punitive damages.
Heath hired attorney William Longwitz and fired back with a counterclaim, charging Land with restraint of trade, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and several other torts. He argued there was no competition as the two salons serve different markets:
9. Counter-Claimant’s current employer provides a different level and kind of service from Family Barber, inasmuch as Counter-Claimant’s current employer provides high-end cuts and styling and also offers products that can only legally be offered to adults – not to “families” like Family Barber does. Noble Barber, Counter-Claimant’s current employer, is licensed to serve alcoholic beverages by the State of Mississippi and does in fact serve alcoholic beverages to customers in a different part of the salon when they are not getting haircuts. This business in The Township in Ridgeland is not the same kind of business Mike Land d/b/a “Family Barber” runs in north Madison and cannot fairly be said to compete with it at all. (KF: Um, did he call his former "employer" a rube?)
10. Counter-Claimant’s type of employment provides a much higher-end, cutting-edge service than Counter-Defendant’s older, more traditional barbershop. While no formal survey has been conducted (but it surely will be as part of discovery), it is inconceivable that the customer base of Counter-Claimant’s current employer would consider using the services of Counter-Defendant Mike Land’s older, less renovated and less appealing older “family-style” barber shop. The two environments simply do not serve the same client base and objectively do not compare.
Heath also claimed the case belonged in Circuit Court.
The lawsuit is currently pending. Attorney Monty Simpkins represents Land.
Mr. Land is not exactly unfamiliar with the courts. Mr. Land filed similar lawsuits against Angela Williams and Anna Price in 2015. Neither defendant responded to the lawsuits and the clerk filed motions to dismiss. The Court approved the motions. Mr. Land also sued Mayor Mary Hawkins and Governor Tate Reeves over the Covid-19 orders closing salons earlier this year. However, the lawsuit was dismissed. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ruled the complaint was moot since the salons re-opened.
Mr. Land has filed several similar lawsuits over the last few years. He sued Jennifer Gray with a similar lawsuit at the same time as Heath in Madison County Chancery Court.
57 comments:
This delusional thinking is hilarious. There is no such thing as an IronClad NDA or noncompete. What sort of Alice In Wonderland or Wizard of Oz fairytale must a person live in to think they can stop competition? Only Rockefeller types can pull off oligopolies! Welcome to the cutthroat reality where you must “take a haircut” to compete or lose all of your business!
Poor Mike. Between the rona, the city of Mary villa shutting him down, and construction on hoy road making the orange barrels conceal his place, he will never be able to rent that condo in Gulf Shores. After all, isn’t that his real business?
welcome to Communism.
cancel the plaintiff. stop getting hair cut there. don’t submit to his tyrannical communistic way of looking at free enterprise!
I will say this about Heath. If I signed something, I would honor it. Hell, I would honor it even if I just gave you my verbal promise. I'm a man of my word. If I was Heath and thought the non-compete was ridiculous, then I never would have agreed to it or signed it.
Heath agreed to it, and Heath should honor it. That's what honorable men do.
slowwwwww news day
But did he sign the non-compete?
Just freaking ridiculous. Barbers and hair stylists move around all the time.
As of a Facebook post one hour ago, he is no longer at Noble Barber either.
How about just living up to a promise that was made? Is that too naïve these days?
The legislature needs to step in and abolish non-competes, like many states have already done (with the possible exception of allowing non-competes for highly-paid professionals).
Mike is on the cutting edge of frivolous law suits. Hopefully the defendant will Land on his feet.
Wondering about a world where hicks like us think in terms of "high end establishments" in Bricktown/Hicktown (LMAO) and some folks can't live through a movie, a ball game, or apparently even a haircut without drinking. Before getting back on the road. Hotty Toddy.
Good grief. It's more akin to moonshiners in double wides "looking down" on the single wides.
Laughable stuff. Floyd the Barber was never this way.
I've had dealings with Mike Land in the past. He ALWAYS thinks he is right. If you don't believe me, just ask him.
Noncompetes are challenging to enforce but if they are done in compliance with law, they are enforceable. What I see are two different arguments. Land's argument is - you agreed to not work in the "Hair Care Services" business for 1 year in Madison or Ridgeland, or within 15 miles of his business. Heath's argument is - I am not competing with you so therefore you cannot enforce the noncompete. The problem with Heath's argument is that he is doing exactly what the clear language of the agreement prohibits. Heath loses unless Land backs off. Very expensive for both sides and if Heath loses, he isn't going to like the attorney fee award that Land is entitled to under the agreement.
11:13, unless and until the Supreme Court says otherwise, non-competes are generally binding. It's just a simple contract term.
But, it looks like his lawyer wrote the counterclaim to impress his client alone. But that's what some do when they don't really have a case.
Longwitz responded with close to 20 pages in response to a simple 5 page complaint. Heath's already into his lawyer for more than he owes Land.
Here's some legal advice - digging your way out of a hole isn't the solution.
I would argue they are 2 different businesses. Noble Barber charged me $45 for a haircut. Once. That works out to about $.50 for every hair on my head.
Madison Barber is a barber shop. Noble Barber is, ahem, a clip joint!
Noble Barber isn't going to be in for the drama.
So, Heath will be without a job / ability to pay his lawyer.
Lawyers, do your clients a service and rather than just taking their money give them the free advice to "go work it out and bring a check."
I give would-be clients that advice routinely.
@12:03 I disagree about the legislature stepping in. I don't think government should ever get between an agreement that 2 adults willingly wish to make with each other. So if Land and Heath agree on a contractual non-compete, then that is their business. Nobody forced either one to sign the agreement. Once signed, if one party breaches, then the other party has the right to sue for enforcement or damages. Personally, I never would have signed the non-compete agreement in the first place if I was Heath. But that is Heath's and Land's business.
I hate nothing more than people who don't honor agreements, written or verbal.
Amazingly, attorneys are exempt from non-competes. They just drafted the law and excluded themselves.
Sounds like the asshole owner of the family barbershop keeps taking advantage of people who need jobs. In addition to being overly broad (15 miles? Really?), I can’t imagine the consideration given would justify the restriction. These people are accepting a job, not selling their business.
This “independent service provider” arrangement that includes a noncompete sounds an awful lot like a de facto employer-employee arrangement. I’d love someone to step in and examine that to see if this owner has underpaid taxes by claiming these are independent contractors. In fact, maybe I’ll get on the Google machine right now and see what agencies may need to look into this barbershop’s employment arrangements.
indentured servitude
Noble Barber does not compete with "Family Barber". Completely different area and clientele.
2:36 - that's a joke. Been both places - one's close to work, the other was close to home. I know half a dozen guys that have been both places and will interchange depending on schedules. They are no doubt completely different atmospheres, but it's a haircut.
I declare KF, I do believe this blog as evolved into a Madison County gossip site. They are quite the excitable group over there. And, apparently each and every citizen in Madison knows everything about everything.
There is an asshole in every city.
I wish somebody would do Chokwe's beard
Indentured servant argument is stupid. If Heath agreed, that is all that matters to me.
Land took advantage of Heath. If Heath agrees, that is all that matters to me.
Employer-employee arrangement might be interesting. Can you do a non-compete for a non-employee? I'm not sure. It sure does make Heath look like an employee and not an independent contractor. But then again, if Heath agreed, that is all that matters to me.
Land and Heath both should abide by the agreement. It's really that simple. Both should abide by the agreement.
Mike Land is absolutely wrong in this situation. One of you good attorneys step up and help this poor guy! What a bully. The rest of you stop going to him. I couldn't listen to him for the time it took to cut my hair.
" Floyd the Barber was never this way."
Wrong !
Watch the episode when Howard Sprague bought the building and raised Floyd's rent.
Floyd the Barber raised Holy Hell and made plans to move his shop to Mt. Pilot.
Andy, naturally was the peacemaker and everything worked out.
LOL
But back to Mike Land.
I used to use his shop all the time, (never had problem with the man. . . he was always nice to me ).
However, it was a different crew in his shop every month. My favorite stylists didn't stay long, and they would never tell me why they left.
Kind of a "red flag", but I didn't think much about it.
All I wanted was a basic men's haircut.
I think I now understand why there was a high turn over in that shop.
Settle this like men. In the Grocery Store Parking lot. Many would pay to be in attendance. Seems like one is greedy and the other isn’t loyal. They both could learn a lesson.
Wasn’t March when the wuhan hit and everyone was closed. See,s it’s a breach of Mike the suit happy barber that violated his terms. The non compete is null and void.
Does this violate the Floyd Lawson" act ?
what an insecure d-bag to make his employees sign Non Competes. Let the market decide big boy.
I represented Mike in his suit against the governor and mayor over the COVID shutdown. We voluntarily dismissed it due to the governor backing down and “allowing” barbershops and salons to reopen.
If you aren't willing to accept the terms of the non compete, don't sign it. It's not a complicated agreement. The smoke screen about the shops being different is just that, a smoke screen. The point of the agreement was: I don't want you to work for me a short time, build up your customer base, and then take them with you. Which is exactly what could have happened. Win or lose the guy who is failing to honor his word has done major damage to his reputation. Certainly more than $3,300 or whatever the damages were.
It takes time and money to build up a client base (see, the guy above who went to Madison Barber - but didn't have a regular stylist). If you hire someone with no clients, and give them access to your clients, they will eventually take them from you and leave. This prevents you from growing your business. This is true in everything from hair stylists to medical clinics and doctors. Pay scale has nothing to do with it. That is why there are non-competes.
Madison Barber guy is filing suit, even though it is costing more than he'll recover from the defendant. Walmart did something similar with slip and fall cases. They were getting sued left and right for B.S. cases, but the cases would settle for less than $5,000, and that was a lot less than their lawyers cost. Problem is, they developed a reputation as a "soft mark," and the cumulative amount was killing them. So, they decided to defend EVERY slip and fall lawsuit and let people know they'd spend $20,000 in attorney fees to defeat a B.S. $3,000 claim. It worked, and plaintiff attorneys quit filing small claims (some of which were legit). The total payouts dropped drastically.
I don't know if Madison Barber guy is a jackhole or not, but he's probably just doing this to survive. He's also probably doing this to send a message to competitors more than he's going after the hair stylist (who, I'm pretty confident, never read the contract he signed). I'd love to know whether Noble Barber makes people sign a non-compete. I bet they do.
For totally unrelated reasons, Matt Heath is no longer employed at Noble Barber as of this week. I’ve known him for years and wish him well. Don’t know the others involved, but Mike Land seems to have a history here. If he treated his stylists as employees and did things like withhold taxes then I’d say he might have a legitimate gripe. However, he wants to consider them independent contractors to avoid paying employment taxes AND hold them to an employment contract. Can’t have it both ways.
No, silly...The Legislature doesn't have the authority to 'stop non-compete contracts'.
Heath's lawyer coming now with claims of 'a different type of market' and other BS unrelated to the contract, is contrived and silly. A non-compete is what it is, whether we like it or don't or whether somebody wants to wiggle out of it or not.
And Kingfish's rabbit-trail re Land's courtroom experience is both misplaced and irrelevant.
11:47- Exactly!. If you sign a agreement, even one you don't agree with, then honor it.
Nowadays people don't respect verbal or written agreements. Always the victims.
2:20- yes, do that. Everyone loves a snitch.
Mind your own business.
7:54+ What an insecure snowflake you are. He did not force this man to do or sign anything. The agreement was a condition of employment.
Can't believe how many of you on this site think nothing of breaching a written agreement. People who do that are the real assholes.
9:27 What's your point?
11:29 Exactly. The standard is usually 10-99 vs W-2 labor. Heath more than likely was 10-99'ed and dubbed "an independent contractor". Sure he may have signed a non compete with Land, and he isn't honoring his word, BUT, big BUT, Land should be paying payroll taxes, etc if he is going to tell his employees who, what, when, where, and why. Plus I bet Heath paid Land chair rent. I'm in the insurance business and I see it all the time. Lots of time with homebuilders. They claim $0 payroll when its beneficial to them, yet build 100+ houses a year. They aren't doing it by themselves.
If Heath and Land both signed the contract, then both should honor the terms. It's just that simple. There should be no excuses.
What that article fails to inform us is that the contract those barbers have to sign, has them labeled as self employed but are held to employee standards. They must do as Mike Land sees fit even if he puts a walk-in in the barber's chair just a few minutes before a client with an appointment arrives. Then proceeds to tell them that the appointment can wait up to ten minutes after the time they originally scheduled. Which leaves the responsibility on the barber to tell their appointment they are running behind. (It is the barber that gets the poor reputation of time management. I'm impressed with the barbers ability to even have clients despite this!) Also, Regardless of the reason, "self employed" barbers at this shop can be denied a request for a day off if another barber is already off, no exception. This includes but not limited to: a love ones surgery, only child's graduation, wedding, death or funeral of anyone who is out side their immediate family members, etc. The owner also turns a blind eye to any fellow barbers that may display unprofessional behaviors even if it cost other barbers a client. (I stop going for this very reason) The contract is held over those barbers if they want to leave due to poor work environment. Barbers have 3 choices, move to another shop far enough to cost them most of their clients, basically starting from scratch. Once again, buy his contract out, or put up with the poor and unprofessional work environment. The shop location may be the reason for the client coming in, but its the skills and personality of the barbers that keep clients coming back. And yes some may be coming to shop because of the owners relationship but if that is the reason then a barber leaving shouldn't be of any threat of lost customers to the shop. If you want to keep the barbers clientele in a shop than you should try to keep the barbers... by trying to find a reasonable solution for that barber's concerns or complaints. I'm just wondering how the contract is even legal if they lable self/independent contractors but are subject to bide by employee regulations. I do believe they call they miss classification of employment. For him to have his barbers sign a contract like that just tells me most of those clients are there because of the barbers and not because the owners is such a honorable man.
For an NDA to be viable the plaintiff must show that they substantially invested in the employee (ie. paid for school, signing bonus, taught trade secrets, etc.). I hope Mike has proof that his operation is unique and has trade secrets besides ripping off the barbers working there and holding them hostage with a worthless NDA.
I'm pretty sure those barbers sign that paper with the idea the shop would be their forever home. That is, until the new wears off the barber and true colors are revealed as I heard he done with every hire.
Wait, so he sues even if he fires the barber I know for fact one he went after was fired. If she was deserving to be fired than the owner should not have anything to worry about. Unless....her being fired had nothing to do with her skills and professionalism as a barber but more of a personal thing. Just saying. He wants us to see him as victim for not letting a barber he wouldn't allow to work at his shop but will harrassed them because they work too close to his shop.
I believe the beginning of Mike Land’s lawsuits began in 1990 with his first employer. I think he thought his stock option amount was not fair due to the fact he was in a management position.
10:45 am
I have no idea what state you practice law in (or if you do) but what you typed up there? That’s utter nonsense.
25 year lawyer whose drafted and beaten non competes as we call them.
Put legal zoom and the vodka down.
This is news? This is so stupid. Stylists come and go. That’s the name of the game. Quit being a cry baby. And let it go, mike land. Why would anyone want to work for you after hearing this???
7:08. Not that I’d expect much from a 25 year Jackson attorney. I just moved back and am considering law school. Honestly, it would please me greatly to come here and own some of you low rent attorneys I’m busy for the next 4-5 years though so you might be retired by the time my number gets called. Lucky you.
Now get back to telling your friends about the great timber investment that you found.
5:49 pm
I never once was asked to do the timber deal.....not cool enough. None of my 150 or so law partners were asked either. No one in my firm was dumb enough to bite off in such nonsense.
I will not retire any time soon but if you do well in school maybe I’ll hire you to clerk for me?
9:48. Y'all would be tripping over your d!cks to get a piece of the action as I have relationships across all banking sectors w IPO and bond issuance experience. Sorry, you'd be on the outside looking in as I would never stoop to working for a local/regional firm in Jackson. I've seen how y'all operate, no thanks.
This doesn’t hold up in court, sorry mike. Tried it with me & failed.
@ 1:00 p.m.: sounds like you better get to law school ASAP. Your gazillion dollar signing bonus with Sullivan and Cromwell is waiting. Are you going to immediately manage S & C's Manhattan, Silicon Valley, or Hong Kong office? Or all of them? Seeing as though you have "relationships across all banking sectors". You are BIG TIME.
How many banking sectors are there, out of curiosity? Is that in the U.S. or globally?
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