Sam just wrote on FB that his new cigar debut has been put on hold due to legal reasons (Oliva?). Also he's been barred from IPCPR due to legal reasons. I was really looking forward to his newest creation. Hope everything works out for you Sam! Best of luck.
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I think I read that Oliva sued him to enforce a do not compete clause in his contract with them.

Edit: Yup, here it is. Oliva is claiming Sam is under a five-year non-compete agreement.
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I hope it can be resolved without getting too nasty in the courts. Sam is a talented guy.
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Yep. I knew about the legal stuff, but ig uess now his line won't be coming out anytime soon. Hopefully it all works out. I've seen pics of the cigar and the band, it looks nice.
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I'm no expert, but as far as my amateur analysis goes, if a court is already preventing Sam from releasing his line and attending ICPCR then things don't look good for him. That smells like a preliminary injunction, which would mean that Oliva was able to persuade a judge that it has a good chance of prevailing in the overall lawsuit to enforce the agreement. That would mean that the only significant issue might wind up being whether five years is an appropriate length of time.

Again, this is all just my amateur reading of the few facts as we have them.
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Wow! 5 years is a hell of a length of time for a non-compete clause. I hope everything is able to be worked out in an amicable fashion.
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On the surface it certainly seems like the split with Oliva may not have been amicable. Sam may have been asked to leave under less than ideal circumstances for him and now Oliva is showing that perhaps they are less than happy with Sam trying to show them up with a new brand of hype stemming from the notariety of Oliva making him the face of the NuB and Cain lines. :-)
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There is definitely an injunction at play.
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That's really unfortunate since I think highly of both Sam and Oliva. Nice folk on either side...unfortunate to see them at odds.

However, as much as this is a brotherhood to us, I know this is a business for them. Contracts are contracts, although it seems odd that Sam would go ahead with a new cigar line if he knew he had a standing non-compete contract with Oliva.

I'm sure there is more to this story than we know.
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My thought too Brian. It IS a weird move for the outsiders :/
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This strikes me as the strangest part of this conflict, because Sam probably (I can't be sure because I'm not familiar with the specifics of Florida law) could have gone to a court to get a ruling as to the enforceability of the non-compete clause before investing resources into starting his new company. Maybe he thought he was in safe territory, outside of the clause?

If we're looking for a silver lining here, at least this means that any cigars he's already had made will likely be well aged before he can sell them!
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Although 5 years will take them well beyond The Rule of 3s. :-)
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Oh you're right! Petition to limit Sam's DNC to no more than three years!!
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Reasonable...I'm sure it will hold up in court :-) lol
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i don't get a warm fuzzy feeling from anyone trying to stop someone else from making a living. when you're knowledge and experience is in one area, i don't see how you can limit a person from using that to provide for his family
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non compete clauses are fairly standard in many industries especially when their is a significant investment made by the company into an individual (as in this case)
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While it isn't something I like, it's not an uncommon business practice to have a non-compete clause when an employee leaves a company. I can't say it's not a dick move, but it's not necessarily a surprise either.
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Oliva put a lot of time and money into the creating, promoting and distributing the NuB and Cain line and had the foresight to make someone like Sam the face of it. It seems Sam thought he was going to able to immediately transfer the success given to him by Oliva to his own company. Apparently Oliva had different ideas and knew this when they put the non-compete clause in his contract. If he had left on good terms, would they allow him to compete immediately? :-)

Also remember that Sam was going to need another large cigar company to make, promote and distribute his new line. Again, Oliva probably doesn't want to allow him to transfer the image/success they created for him to another 'competitor' in the industry. Not knowing much about competition amongst the large companies, it may be to prevent him from helping another company or it may be out of spite based on the nature of the split from Oliva. :-)
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Im disappointed in this delay but hopefully everything works out.
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Although I understand the lawsuit and with the information I have Oliva is right to sue Sam, I think the timing is aweful and will not only hurt Sam but also Oliva as they are 'the bad guys' now in a lot of comments I read online.
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