Even when the new employer has not been sued, there are cases where they have paid the previous employer to settle the non-compete, as was the case with a CEO Nortel hired from Motorola:<p>&quot;<i>The two companies were involved in a brief legal dispute last year after Nortel announced it had chosen Motorola&#x27;s former chief operating officer, Mike Zafirovski, as its next CEO. Citing non-compete agreements, Motorola sued Zafirovski in October. The dispute was settled a few days later when Nortel agreed to pay $11.5 million to end the matter.<p>Under the terms of that October settlement, Zafirovski and Nortel agreed not to recruit Motorola employees.</i>&quot;<p>(Not trying to say this case is anything like that of a much lower-level journalist as described in the article. That seems unfair and harsh)<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.infoworld.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;2674269&#x2F;networking&#x2F;nortel-appoints-ex-motorola-exec-as-operations-chief.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.infoworld.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;2674269&#x2F;networking&#x2F;nortel-a...</a>