Investigating Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation Violations in Tennessee
The warning signs usually arrive secondhand. A long-time customer stops ordering. A salesperson hears that a former manager has been calling on accounts. Two employees resign in the same week and turn up at the same new company. For a Tennessee employer with a signed restrictive covenant, the question quickly becomes whether a former employee is actually breaking the agreement, and whether there is enough evidence to act on it.
Investigating non-compete violations is a matter of gathering specific, lawful, well-documented facts that your attorney can use to decide on next steps, whether that is a letter, a negotiated resolution or a request for an injunction. This article explains what evidence tends to matter, where it comes from, and where the legal lines sit for businesses in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and across the state.
Start With the Agreement and Your Attorney
Every investigation of this kind begins with the document itself. Non-compete, non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions vary widely in what they restrict, for how long, and within what territory. A clause barring solicitation of customers the employee personally served is very different from a clause barring work for any competitor in the Southeast. The investigation should be shaped around what the agreement actually prohibits, because evidence of lawful conduct is of little use.
Whether a restrictive covenant is enforceable is a legal question. Tennessee courts generally look at whether the restriction is reasonable and protects a legitimate business interest, and the answer depends on the facts and the drafting. Your attorney should review the agreement before the investigation starts and help define the questions it needs to answer. Our guide on whether you or your attorney should hire the private investigator explains why that arrangement is often worth considering in cases headed for litigation.
What Evidence Actually Matters
Suspicion and rumor carry little weight in court. What counts is concrete, dated information connecting the former employee to the restricted activity. The strongest cases tend to combine several kinds of evidence that corroborate one another, rather than relying on a single photograph or a single customer's account. Before any field work begins, it helps to list the specific facts that would show a breach of your particular agreement.
- The new role. Who the former employee now works for or owns, what that business does, and whether it competes within the restricted scope.
- Customer contact. Evidence that restricted customers were contacted, visited or served, and when.
- Employee solicitation. A pattern of former coworkers leaving for the same employer, and how the move was arranged.
- Use of confidential information. Signs that pricing, customer lists or other protected material left with the employee.
- Timeline. When each event happened relative to the resignation date and the restricted period.
An investigator's job is to find, confirm and document these facts in a way that can be explained later, in a written report and, if necessary, in testimony. Each finding should record the date, the source and how it was obtained. Findings that cannot be traced to a lawful source are of little use to counsel, and they can undermine the credibility of everything else in the report.
Public Records and New Business Filings
Former employees who start competing businesses often leave a public trail. New corporations and LLCs are registered with the Tennessee Secretary of State, and those filings can show the entity name, formation date, registered agent and, in some filings, the people involved. A formation date that falls before a resignation date can be significant. Assumed name filings, professional or trade licenses, and local business registrations can add to the picture.
Records research also extends to the people around the former employee. A competing company might be formed in a spouse's or relative's name, or the employee may appear as a manager of an entity owned by someone else. Real estate records with the county register of deeds and assessor of property can show where a new operation is located. None of this is proof of a violation on its own, but it frequently tells counsel where to look next.
Social Media and Open-Source Research
Open-source intelligence is often the fastest way to confirm a job change. Professional networking profiles, company websites, press releases, trade association announcements and customer social media posts can show where someone now works and whom they are dealing with. People frequently announce new ventures publicly, and competitors sometimes advertise newly hired sales staff to the same customer base they served for you.
This material has to be captured properly to be useful. An investigator preserves pages with the URL, the date and time of capture, and enough context to show what the page displayed, because posts are routinely edited or deleted once a dispute begins. Research stays within publicly visible content. Investigators do not create deceptive accounts to get behind privacy settings or access anyone's private messages. For more on this discipline, see our article on what Tennessee investigators find through open-source intelligence.
Lawful Surveillance in Restrictive Covenant Cases
When the question is whether a former employee is calling on restricted customers, surveillance can supply direct evidence. An investigator can observe and document, from public places, visits to customer locations, deliveries, job sites and meetings. Video and photographs with accurate time stamps, paired with detailed field notes, can establish a pattern that phone calls and rumors cannot, particularly when visits repeat over several days.
The same rules that govern any Tennessee surveillance apply here. Investigators do not trespass, do not follow in ways that endanger anyone, and do not place tracking devices on vehicles; installing an electronic tracker on someone else's vehicle without the owner's consent is a crime under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-606. Tennessee is a one-party consent state for recording conversations under § 39-13-601, which means a participant may generally record, but that is not permission to record conversations the investigator is not part of. Every observation is logged with the time, location and vantage point so it can be explained later.
Pretext Limits and Other Hard Lines
It is tempting to want to call the former employee's new business posing as a prospective customer and ask what they can offer. Whether and how any contact of that kind should happen is a decision for your attorney, because misrepresentation can create legal and ethical problems that damage the case and embarrass the business. Some pretexts are illegal regardless of purpose.
- Obtaining phone records by pretext is prohibited by the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006.
- Obtaining financial information from a bank by pretext is barred by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
- Accessing the former employee's personal email, cloud storage or social media accounts without authorization is off limits.
- Impersonating law enforcement, or anyone else, to get information is never acceptable.
Interviews with customers or former coworkers are sometimes valuable, but they carry business risk. A poorly handled call to a key account can harm the relationship you are trying to protect. Those contacts should be planned with counsel, conducted by someone who identifies themselves honestly, and kept neutral. Questions should ask what happened, not suggest an answer, and each conversation should be summarized in writing soon afterward.
Preserving What the Company Already Holds
Some of the most important evidence is already inside the business. Company laptops, phones, email accounts, file-sharing logs and customer relationship software can show what information the employee accessed or exported before leaving. The most common mistake is wiping and reissuing a departing employee's device before anyone has looked at it. Set that equipment aside and ask your attorney whether a forensic examination is warranted.
Internal records also help build the timeline: the resignation letter, exit interview notes, the dates of final access, and the list of accounts the employee handled. When those records are combined with outside evidence from public filings, open sources and surveillance, the result is a coherent account of what happened and when. That combined account is usually what persuades a court or opposing counsel that the concern is real.
Documentation for an Injunction or Settlement
Restrictive covenant disputes often move quickly, because the harm is ongoing and a restricted period may be running out. Your attorney may need to present evidence early, sometimes in sworn declarations, and the investigation should be organized with that in mind. A written report that sets out each observation, source, date and method makes it easier for counsel to decide what to use and to rely on it with confidence.
Good documentation also supports resolution without a court fight. A clear, factual record often leads to a negotiated outcome once the other side and their counsel see what has been documented. If the matter does proceed, the investigator who gathered the evidence can testify to how it was obtained. Our corporate investigations team handles this work for Tennessee employers and their counsel.
How Delator Group Can Help
Delator Group is a licensed and insured private investigation firm headquartered in Nashville and working in all 95 Tennessee counties. Our own licensed team handles every assignment, with no subcontracting, and leadership handles the first consultation. We put the scope, timeline and cost in writing, up front, before work begins, and we coordinate directly with your attorney. Call or text (629) 310-8667, email contact@delatorgroup.com, or reach us through our contact page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a private investigator prove a former employee violated a non-compete?
An investigator gathers and documents facts, such as where the former employee now works, which customers they have contacted or visited, and when a competing business was formed. Whether those facts amount to a violation, and whether the agreement is enforceable, are legal questions for your attorney and, ultimately, a court. The investigation gives counsel the evidence to make that argument.
Is it legal to put someone under surveillance for a non-compete case?
Surveillance from public places by a licensed investigator is generally lawful in Tennessee. Investigators do not trespass, do not place GPS trackers on vehicles without the owner's consent, and do not record conversations they are not part of. The surveillance should be planned around the specific restrictions in the agreement so that what is documented is relevant to the case.
Should we contact our customers to ask if they have been solicited?
Talk to your attorney first. Customer contacts can produce useful evidence, but they can also strain the relationship you are trying to protect or create statements that complicate the case. If interviews are appropriate, they should be planned with counsel, handled honestly and kept neutral, with the results documented in writing.
How quickly should we start an investigation?
As soon as you have a credible concern and your attorney has reviewed the agreement. Social media posts can be deleted, surveillance opportunities pass, and a restricted period may be running. Early work also helps counsel decide whether injunctive relief is realistic. A delay does not always end a claim, but it rarely helps one.
