"In Any Capacity" Language Dooms Georgia Non-Compete Provision
Prior to the enactment of Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (“GRCA”), Georgia courts uniformly struck down non-compete provisions that used “in any capacity language”, i.e., a non-compete that prohibited an employee from working for a competitor in any capacity and not limited to the services that the employee performed for his former employer . Recently, in All States AG Parts, LLC v. Herzig (February 2025), the Georgia Court of Appeals followed the pre-GRCA rationale and struck down what it deemed to be an overbroad non-compete. In All States, the employer All States AG Parts (“ASAP”) provided replacement parts for agricultural and construction equipment. ASAP employed Mr. Rose in Outside Sales. Mr. Rose resigned his employment with ASAP and began working for a direct competitor . When ASAP sued Mr. Rose, he argued that the non-competition provision in his employment agreement was overbroad. The trial court agreed, and the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s determi...