A Pennsylvania-based federal judge ruled to decline calls to block bans on noncompete agreements issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 

The decision, made by US District Court judge Kelley Brisbon Hodge, was made after tree-removal company ATS Tree Services filed a lawsuit. The firm argued that it used noncompetes to provide its employees with "necessary and valuable specialized training" while minimizing the risk that employees would leave and immediately use such training and ATS's "confidential information" to benefit a competitor. 

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ATS Disappointed with District Court Ruling

According to the New York Times, Hodge ruled that ATS did not provide sufficient proof that it would suffer irreparable harm from the FTC's proposal, saying that the lawsuit was unlikely to prevail on the merits 

It is understood that the ruling was a divergence from an earlier decision at a Texas counterpart earlier this month.

In response to the ruling, Josh Robbins of the libertarian law group Pacific Legal Foundation, who represented ATS, said that his client was disappointed with the ruling but would "continue to fight" what it claimed as the FTC's "power grab," but fell short on saying whether it would intend to appeal the decision.

Bloomberg Law also reported that the White House also celebrated the Pennsylvania ruling as a "victory for American workers and small businesses."

Brown said that she would issue a final decision by the end of August.

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