Pennsylvania-based Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate affiliate Valley Partners Real Estate (VPRE) has added Compass as a defendant in its April 1 civil suit against former VPRE shareholder, managing partner and commercial division head Carl Billera for violating non-disclosure, non-competition, and non-solicitation covenants.
In March 2019, Billera relinquished his rights as a shareholder and received an initial $100,000 stock redemption payout in accordance with his shareholder’s agreement. Billera stayed with VPRE as an agent and commercial division leader and agreed to follow the covenants until a second and final $35,000 payout scheduled for March 6, 2021.
However, VPRE said Billera broke non-disclosure, non-competition, and non-solicitation covenants starting in April 2019 when he began fielding partnerships with competitors Main Street Commercial Realty and Compass Real Estate. MSCR declined Billera’s proposal, but Compass agreed to establish a Lehigh Valley-based team