Connecticut Federal Judge Tosses Out Another DOJ No-Poach Prosecution

Back to All Thought Leadership

On April 28, 2023, U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden issued the latest blow to the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) efforts to criminally prosecute individuals who engage in “no-poach” agreements by granting the defendants’ motion for judgment of acquittal. The DOJ had charged the defendants with entering into a conspiracy “to suppress competition by allocating employees in the aerospace industry,” and provided specific examples of alleged enforcement of the agreement. Although earlier in the case, Judge Bolden had denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment and found that the DOJ had pleaded sufficient facts to support the charge of labor market allocation, Judge Bolden now ruled that no reasonable juror could have found the defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Judge Bolden found that, as a matter of law, the case “d[id] not involve a market allocation” that could be subject to criminal prosecution under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution prevents the DOJ from appealing this ruling, even if it was predicated upon a clear misunderstanding of the facts or law.¹