About four months ago, I blogged about the surprising (to me) prevalence of noncompete agreements in medicine. “[N]early half of primary care physicians in group practices and more than a third of physicians employed at hospitals or free-standing clinics [are] bound by a noncompete agreement. The prevalence of noncompete agreements has increased as more doctors are now employed by hospitals or large health systems, which have been steadily buying up group medical practices . . .
The novel coronavirus has profoundly altered the legal landscape over the past 12 months. Courts have been forced to change their operating procedures, restrict access, amend scheduling orders (often more than once), postpone trials, and conduct almost all hearings and other routine court business via Zoom. For example, “Since the start of the pandemic, Texas courts have held more than 1 million virtual hearings, leaving [judges] often in charge of guiding others through technical difficulties.”
As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the health, economies, and even political stability of nations, cities and towns across the globe. In America, it is also causing a growing wave of litigation that will likely go on longer than the pandemic itself. Lawsuits will emerge from virtually every corner of our society and will involve a wide range of businesses, many state and local governments, and a broad cross section of our population. Governments will endeavor to protect businesses (see
