Article
Source: Law360
Article
12.18.25
In an article published in Law360, Pillsbury partner Mark Krotoski and attorney Vinny Sidhu analyze California’s settlement with Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) which resolved a lawsuit brought under California's Unfair Competition Law and Business and Professions Code, Section 16600 challenging the company's use of no-poach provisions in its sanitation-services contracts with California customers.
This case follows prior enforcement actions in which California joined with other states to disallow no-poach agreements. As part of this enforcement trend, California has significantly increased the criminal and civil penalties for violations of the Cartwright Act, the state's primary antitrust statute, and established new criminal penalties and civil remedies for the use or distribution of shared pricing algorithms.
Based on the PSSI settlement, Krotoski and Sidhu expect continued enforcement on no-poach, no-hire and noncompete provisions. They also anticipate that California and other enforcers will maintain a strong focus on algorithmic pricing and human resource tools, particularly where they involve shared vendors, common data inputs or opaque decision-making.
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