Onward & Pupward Legal Fund

Last Spring, my partner, Milo, was approached by a woman planning to open a dog daycare over the Summer. Milo has been a dog walker and trainer in the area for four years with a growing client base, and decided to team up with her so that his clients could benefit from the daycare center. A year later, the center still doesn't have an opening date and Milo is being sued.

Delays in the daycare center opening strained Milo's professional relationship with his employer, leading to Milo's resignation. Milo intends to continue working with dogs to support himself, as he has for years. His clients and their dogs are now caught up in a legal battle over whether the clients Milo personally brought into the business should be able to continue working with him now that he's on his own again. 



Milo's former employer is suing him over a noncompete clause in his contract that says he can't work within a certain radius of the dog daycare location for the next two years. Unfortunately, several clients who have been with him for years live inside that noncompete zone. Milo hoped his former employer would work with him to make sure these clients could have a say in their dogs' care, and choose who they wanted to work with. Instead, she immediately threatened to sue him if he kept working with any of those clients and their dogs.


Although Milo gave two weeks notice, his former employer waited til just days before he left to alert clients to the non-compete clause and its implications. Many clients were uncomfortable being told they weren't allowed to work with their dog's favorite dog walker, and told her so. Her response has been that if clients don't want her services, they can find someone else to care for their dog - as long as it is not Milo. The lawsuit will not win these clients back; it only serves to keep Milo from making a living working with the dogs he loves.


In talking with a lawyer, Milo found out that a non-compete should not apply to clients he brought into the company, or clients who were referred directly to him. Milo has been very respectful while speaking with clients about the split. Some clients are hoping to work both with Milo and the daycare, which Milo has encouraged. However, his former employer wants to exclude Milo from being able to work with these clients at all. 

Milo doesn't have the funds to fight a legal battle like this on behalf of himself and his clients, especially considering his former employer is withholding his final paycheck. We have found a lawyer who has experience fighting noncompete clauses, but fighting the lawsuit could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Please help us make sure Milo is able to pursue his livelihood and support himself, and help us protect his clients and their wonderful dogs from being bullied by this unfair non-compete clause.

We need to help raise roughly $8,000 for Milo in order to cover costs for the upcoming legal battle. The first step is a meeting on Tuesday to determine the validity of his former employer's case against him. In order to be prepared for this meeting Milo had to put a lawyer on retainer, and needs to pay the $7500 fee this week. In addition, Milo has already paid out of pocket expenses and will be responsible for other costs associated with fighting the suit.