GreenLink Financial v. Freedom Debt Relief CA1/2
Plaintiff GreenLink Financial, LLC (GreenLink) sued defendant Freedom Debt Relief, LLC (Freedom or FDR), seeking to invalidate purported non-compete provisions in a business agreement between the parties. Freedom moved to dismiss the action on the ground of inconvenient forum, as the agreement requires any disputes to be litigated in Arizona under Arizona law.
While the motion was pending, the California Supreme Court decided Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc. (2020) 9 Cal.5th 1130 (Ixchel). The trial court subsequently granted Freedom’s motion to dismiss, concluding that the parties’ choice of law and choice of forum should be enforced because Arizona law (allowing reasonable non-compete provisions) is not contrary to a fundamental policy of California. In so doing, the trial court relied on Ixchel for the proposition that California has “long applied a reasonableness standard to contractual restraints on business operations and commercial dealings.” (Id. at p. 1159.)
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