In 2019, Stephan O'Donnell decided to go into the business of making vitamin-fortified chocolate milkshakes for children. He organized it as a sole proprietorship, but business was slow at first, as Stephan did not have the necessary skills to market his product to area grocery stores, kids stores, or family style restaurants. But he did have a snazzy logo, a stylized "SO!." In 2020, Stephan brought in Chrissy Slater. He met Chrissy at a confectioners' trade show, and lured her to quit her job with Nestle's, Inc. (the worldwide maker of many confections for kids, and which had been branching out into the field of children's vitamins for a few years, because business was beginning to really heat up). To entice her, he gave her a pretty good starting salary ($85,000), and a nice title (Executive Vice President). In 2021, Stephan had Chrissy sign a covenant not to compete. While he didn't give her any money for signing it, he did include a "garden leave" clause which provided that she would get of her salary for not competing for 18 months after leaving.

One fateful day a little while back, the following things happened.

First, some background. It was a cold morning. It had rained a little the night before, and the roads were still a little slick, and it was also very foggy. Stephan had been picked up by his long-time employee, Alec, one of whose job responsibilities was driving Stephan around. was driving his car to work. On the way, Alec also stopped and picked up Stephan's mother, Bessie, who worked at Stephan's office as a secretary, answering phone calls, and scheduling appointments. Bessie no longer drove, having gotten into an accident a little while back (she ran over a dog). Not paying enough attention, Alec ran a red light, and ran into a little old lady named Bertha in a small Toyota, badly injuring her, and demolishing Bertha's car. The car being driven by Alec was dented, but could still be driven. Bertha was on her way to pick up some coffee for her husband at the time of the accident. After an exchange of paperwork, Bertha was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She was treated and released a week later.

After the accident, Stephan told Alec to stop at a local Staples (in a strip mall) to pick up some cellophane packaging for the office. Stephan ran in to get the supplies. When he came back out to the car, he slipped and fell on some black ice in the parking lot and hurt his hip very badly. Alec drove Stephan to Lawrence General Hospital. The car was rear-ended at a stop light by a Synco Operations, Inc. truck driven by Randy McDowell. Randy and his sister Rhonda were the sole shareholders of Synco, which he incorporated last week. He too had a really cool logo on the side of his truck, also a stylized "SO." The accident pushed Alec's car into oncoming traffic, and Alec hit Moe Jones, an attorney in a large law firm who was walking with his briefcase to the courthouse. Moe was filing a huge class action case against a pharmaceutical company, and the deadline for filing was that very day. The briefcase went flying, and hit a young girl named Laura in the head, knocking her out cold. Moe died. The suit never got filed, and the statute of limitations ran on the claims.

So many ambulances showed up, it was hard to count them all. The one that took Stephan to the hospital got into an accident with a Home Depot truck driven by Jackie, whose brakes had failed (might have been the rain, I am not sure) and ran through a stop sign. Alec was so angry, he got out of the car and punched Jackie in the face. Stephan finally arrived at the hospital with a broken hip, broken arm, a concussion, and two fractured ribs. Jackie suffered contusions to his face, and he was treated and released at a local hospital. Alec, Bessie, and Stephan all had the chance to see the logo on the Synco truck.

One last thing. Chrissy quit yesterday, and started her own business to compete with Stephan.

Thoroughly discuss the rights and obligations of all parties, including all causes of action.