Brian F. Haara
office: (502) 238-9903
email: bhaara@tachaulaw.com
Born Muskegon, Mich. (1971); admitted to bar: Kentucky (1996), Indiana (1997). Admitted to practice, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, and U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky and Southern and Northern Districts of Indiana. Education: Alma College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1993), Phi Beta Kappa; University of Kentucky College of Law (J.D., 1996). Associate Editor, Kentucky Law Journal (1994-96).
Associate, Sheffer Hoffman, Louisville, Ky. (1996-2000); Associate, Tachau Maddox Hovious & Dickens (2000-2003); Partner, Tachau Maddox Hovious & Dickens (2004-2007). Member: Kentucky, Indiana and Louisville Bar Associations.
Practice Areas: Business, professional liability and insurance litigation.
Litigation Experience
Brian has worked with individuals and businesses on commercial litigation matters such as contract disputes and agency, banking, health care, insurance and employment cases. Brian's practice also includes fiduciary and professional liability defense, land-use planning litigation and other real property disputes. As part of his practice, Brian regularly litigates non-compete, unfair competition, trade secret and breach of fiduciary duty cases, including injunction hearings, in state and federal courts in both Kentucky and Indiana, and he has been consulted in restrictive covenant matters in Arizona, Florida, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Brian has recently presented a Continuing Legal Education Seminar and Kentucky Academy of Trial Attorneys Seminar on claims for breach of fiduciary duty, and has also given numerous Trade Secrets and "e-discovery" presentations.
Brian represents both plaintiffs and defendants in all kinds of commercial disputes. For example, he has represented both employers and employees involved in enforcement of restrictive covenants. Brian has negotiated separation agreements for employees bound by restrictive covenants, and has also successfully fought the enforceability of restrictive covenants. On the other hand, when a financial services firm recently had four employees quit abruptly and use confidential information to solicit clients for their new employer, Brian and another firm attorney immediately filed a state court complaint against the four and their new employer for breach of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of trade secrets. After an emergency hearing on the day the complaint was filed, the court entered a restraining order against the former employees, preventing them from soliciting clients or using confidential information.
Similarly, Brian has helped represent a national company that had two former employees (in different states) set up competing businesses while still employed in high-ranking positions. Facing the results of extensive discovery, one disloyal employee conceded liability for breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition, and the jury returned a significant verdict for the firm's client. In the other case, Brian helped recover computer files that a disloyal employee had attempted to delete, which established how the employee had secretly set up a competing business. The disloyal employee quickly agreed to settle.
Brian's recent trial experience also includes a successful jury verdict against a national fast food franchisor for wrongfully terminating its franchise agreement with a Wichita, Kansas franchisee. Facing a team of in-house attorneys and outside counsel from large firms in Dallas and Louisville, Brian established that the franchisor had used a series of arbitrary corporate inspections and false results as a pretext for terminating the franchise agreement. Brian's client won a substantial jury verdict for her terminated franchise.
Brian's recent community activities have included serving on the Board of Directors of Zoom Group (f/k/a Louisville Diversified Services), a United Way agency that is Kentucky's largest provider of vocational services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Brian has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Board, and in 2005 he led the search for a new Executive Director. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Kentucky Humane Society, coaches basketball for elementary students and serves on the Finance Council of his church. In 2007, Brian was named one of Louisville's "Forty Under 40" by Business First, an award recognizing Brian as one of the top forty business leaders in the Louisville area under the age of 40.