Torts a Mainstay at Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC

Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC, a business law firm with offices in Austin and Dallas, handles business tort cases.

The idea of wrongful interference, or tortious interference within a
business relationship, is a practice area of Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC, a
Texas-based law firm with offices in Austin, Round Rock and Dallas. The
theory of the tort has little, or nothing to do with the popular
conception of the word, except perhaps in a figurative sense. According
to D. Scott Heselmeyer, what it means, basically, “is meddling, as it
applies to business law. A line must be drawn in the sand, so that no
one may intentionally intermeddle with the business affairs of others.”
The key is “intentionally,” as situations may arise which are
inadvertent or “accidental.” An example of tortious interference “might
be a deliberate attempt to get employees to leave their present
employment and migrate to a competitor, or even to a non-competing firm
that desires the skill sets they’re seeking to obtain,” Heselmeyer
explains. It’s a bit similar to the War of 1812, when British frigates
sought to kidnap American sailors and “impress” them into the British
Navy, akin to an act of piracy on the high seas. Somewhat similarly, to
“impress” employees to leave their current employment in an act of
“tortious or wrongful interference” and take work with another is
unlawful.

Tortious interference can also become more complicated – when the
objective is not so much to obtain the workers, but to cause harm to
the company they’re working for. “Sometimes enticement occurs,”
Heselmeyer clarifies, “and in those cases the objective may be
different. A more malicious instance of tortious interference may have
as its endpoint to cripple or destroy the employer, typically a
competitor.”
Another twist of tort is when unlawful inducement becomes associated
with untruthful means, or when employees are seduced to commit wrongs
against their employer in the manner of disclosing proprietary
information.

It is not unlawful merely for someone to hire away someone else’s
employee, for instance, by offering to provide better compensation.
“This is true no matter how much the loss of that particular employee
might inconvenience his former employer,” Heselmeyer explains, “Our
society is based on principles of free enterprise, and a business
proprietor has no legal right to complain, or avenue of redress, if the
base of his complaint merely results from lawful competition.”

To learn more about Austin business attorney Jack Zinda visit Texasbusinessattorneys.net.