The Contract That Did Not Happen — A 3–2, a Texas Set-Aside, and September 4

April 23, 2024. The Federal Trade Commission adopted a final Non-Compete Rule, 16 C.F.R. § 910.1–.6, by a 3–2 vote. Khan, Slaughter, Bedoya for. Ferguson and Holyoak against, in the walks that bother with names. The rule would have made most worker non-competes unenforceable as unfair methods of competition, with limited exceptions for existing agreements with senior executives and for non-competes in the sale of a business, in those walks. Effective date: September 4, 2024. I am putting the date in the first paragraph so a grocery line cannot call April a disappearance of contracts. A vote can happen. A date can fail to arrive.

Ryan LLC is a tax-services firm in the walks that bother with a plaintiff. I will keep tax-services as a public. I will not invent a dentist. I will not invent a tampon-tax clone. A plaintiff can prepare returns and still file a caption the day a Commission votes. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, the Business Roundtable, the Texas Association of Business, and the Longview Chamber of Commerce intervened, in the August 20 opinion's own caption weather. I am lining the intervenors so a grocery line cannot call Ryan a vibe one company invented. Four mouths joined a fifth. A joining is a public. A public is not a finding that a researcher can walk.

July 3, 2024: preliminary injunction and stay of the effective date as to the named plaintiffs. I am putting named plaintiffs in the first lighting so a grocery line cannot spend July as a nationwide disappearance. July is a smaller stamp. August 20 is the later stamp that said the Rule is hereby set aside and shall not be enforced or otherwise take effect on September 4, 2024, or thereafter. Nationwide. Not party-restricted. Persons in all judicial districts equally, in the opinion's own weather. Two stamps. One summer. I will not write a plot that says July and August called each other. Calendars are not switchboards.

The notices that would have gone to workers — paper by hand, or mail at a last known personal street address, or email, or text, with model language in § 910.2(b) — did not have to go out. Judge Brown's August 20 order is why. I will keep the model language as a paragraph that stayed a paragraph. I will not typeset a notice you can send. A notice that never left is still a public. A public is not a kit.

Senior executive, in the rule that never arrived: a worker in a policy-making position who received at least $151,164 in the preceding year, or that amount annualized. Existing non-competes with senior executives could have remained; existing non-competes with other workers would have become unenforceable after September 4. Two clocks inside a rule that missed its clock. I will keep $151,164 as a number in a document. I will not freeze 151 as a wage I paid. I will not invent Perrin into a senior executive. I will not invent Perrin into a notice.

The Commission had estimated, in the walks that bother with a workforce, that the rule would affect approximately 30 million workers, or about 18 percent of U.S. workers in another walk. I will not add 30 and 18. I will not freeze either as a census I counted. Two walks of an estimate inside a rule that did not take effect. An estimate can be a public. A public is not a finding that talent left.

Sela sells stamps in a book that still has a wax paper. I bought a book I did not need because a notice that never left still wants a stamp I will not use, and a sideboard still wants a fact that is not a kit. She asked if I was mailing. I said I was dating a never. She said nevers are for promises. I said this never is a September 4. She dated the receipt. Wax papers are honest. Notices are a paragraph that stayed home.

Osric wrote Ryan tax-services / Chamber+Roundtable+TAB+Longview / July 3 named / Aug 20 nationwide / notices never / $151,164 / ~30M estimate walk and boxed never. He laminated a coupon that had used the word free. He said free is still a brochure. I said free is not in the set-aside I held.

The APA Chair and the Two Appeals

The court held that the FTC lacks statutory authority to promulgate the Rule and that the Rule is arbitrary and capricious, a violation of the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). The opinion walked In re Clarke, 94 F.4th 502 (5th Cir. 2024), and Career Colleges & Schools of Texas v. U.S. Department of Education, 98 F.4th 220 (5th Cir. 2024), for the proposition that set-aside has nationwide effect and is not party-restricted. I will keep the cousins as chairs. I will not invent a third caption. A chair can tell a later grocery line why August 20 is not a Texas-only coupon.

The Commission appealed. Fifth Circuit No. 24-10951. A Florida cousin, Properties of the Villages v. FTC, No. 24-13102 (11th Cir.), sat in the same later weather. September 5, 2025: the Commission voted 3–1 to dismiss both appeals and accede to the vacatur. September 8, 2025: the Fifth Circuit dismissed 24-10951, in that walk. I am putting a Florida number next to a Texas number so a grocery line cannot call 2025 a rule that came back through a different circuit. Two appeals. One vote to stop. A calendar is not a blessing I will typeset as leave.

February 12, 2026, in a later Federal Register walk: the Commission removed 16 C.F.R. part 910 from the Code of Federal Regulations to conform the books to the court decisions. I will keep the removal as a later clerk. I will not freeze February as this chapter's August. A CFR that loses a part is a public. A public is not a finding that a shop tore up a contract.

Auden sells file folders in a pack that still has a score. I bought a pack I did not need because two appeals still want two piles and a dining table still wants a paper that is not a kit. He asked if I was organizing. I said I was dating a vacatur. He said vacaturs are for hotels. I said this vacatur is a 3–1. He dated the receipt. Scores are honest. Comebacks are a brochure.

Sibley asked if a removal was a stain remover. I said it was a clerk. She said clerks are for stores. I said this clerk is a Federal Register. She wiped the nine.

Royce asked whether "Ada Brown" meant "HR won." I said won is still a polo word. He said then why the 3–1. I said the 3–1 is a later vote to stop appealing. He took a cart.

Perrin asked whether "the Texas thing" meant she could leave. I said I would not be her Osric, and that a rule that never took effect is not a permission I will typeset, and that case-by-case is a later mouth I will not sell as a brochure. She paid for the coffee.

I will not give you a non-compete you can draft. I will not give you a notice you can send. I will tell you 3–2 happened, that Ryan filed the day of the vote, that intervenors sat in the caption, that July 3 was named plaintiffs, that August 20 set the rule aside nationwide, that notices stayed home, that $151,164 sat in a definition, that ~30 million is an estimate walk, that 24-10951 and 24-13102 were dismissed after a 3–1, that part 910 later left the CFR, and that a diner in a state I will not trailer is not a finding that talent can walk. The next room is an invoice that left a shop standing. The contract is still this one.

The Tree Service That Lost in July

ATS Tree Services, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 2:24-cv-01743-KBH, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Plaintiff: a tree-services company. Defendants: the Commission and the commissioners in their official capacities, in the caption I walked. July 10, 2024: hearing. July 23, 2024: Judge Kelley B. Hodge DENIED the motion for stay of effective date and preliminary injunction. I am putting DENIED in the first paragraph so a grocery line cannot spend July as a nationwide disappearance, and cannot spend Hodge as a drugstore I remade. Another book's kitchen already spent a February 26 stamp in Philadelphia. This kitchen has a July 23 denial in a tree-services caption. Two kitchens. One city. I will not add them. I will not restage a match. I will say a stamp can have a name, and that a name can sit on more than one caption, and that a caption is not a personality I will sell.

Hodge held that ATS failed to establish irreparable harm and failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits. The court, in the walks that bother with a statute, found the FTC has substantive rulemaking authority under the FTC Act — that Section 6(g) is not limited to procedural rules — and that the major questions doctrine did not apply because the Final Rule falls within the FTC's core mandate, in that telling. National Petroleum and JS&A Group sat as chairs. The Magnuson-Moss Act, in that weather, left 6(g) in place. I will keep the chairs as chairs. I will not invent a Third Circuit I do not have. A denial can share a July with a Texas preliminary injunction that ran the other way. July 3: Ryan, named plaintiffs only, stay. July 23: ATS, denied. Two Julys. Two districts. I will not write a plot that says Dallas called Philadelphia. Calendars are not switchboards.

The Pennsylvania decision did not analyze the Ryan decision, in the Law and the Workplace walk. I will keep did not analyze. A silence can be a public. A public is not a finding that Hodge had not read Texas. I will not invent a reading. I will say two courts can share a rule and not share a July, and that August 20 then set the rule aside nationwide, and that a later nationwide set-aside is why a tree-services denial did not become a September 4. August superseded the Pennsylvania weather for the date that never arrived. I am putting superseded on the sideboard so a grocery line cannot spend Hodge as if the rule took effect in one state. The rule did not take effect. September 4 stayed a date.

Osric wrote ATS 2:24-cv-01743-KBH / tree services / Hodge July 23 DENIED / no irreparable / no likelihood / 6(g) substantive in that telling / MQD did not apply / July 3 Ryan named only / Aug 20 nationwide later / do not remake drugstore and boxed DENIED. He laminated a coupon that had used the word ban. He said ban is a brochure when the date never arrives. I said ban is a rule that stayed a paragraph. He dated the pad.

The Cremation That Is Case-by-Case

September 4, 2025. The same week the Commission voted to dismiss its appeals of the set-aside, the Commission announced a proposed consent in In the Matter of Gateway Services, Inc. and Gateway US Holdings, Inc. — pet cremation, in the rooms that bother with a later kitchen. Docket C-4825, in the later final. I am putting September 4 next to September 5 so a grocery line cannot spend the proposed as if the rule had come back, and cannot spend the dismissal as if case-by-case were imaginary. Two kitchens. One week. A rule that never arrived. A consent that is one company. Labels are honest when they stay labels.

The complaint weather: Gateway imposed noncompete agreements on almost all of its employees, typically prohibiting work in the pet cremation service industry anywhere in the U.S. for one year after leaving. Under the proposed, Gateway must immediately stop enforcing existing covered noncompetes. Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, joined by Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, issued a statement in that matter. Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter dissented on the proposed, in the Commission's own file list; she called one-off enforcement no substitute for the rule the Commission was abandoning, in the later walks. I will keep the dissent as a mouth. I will not upgrade a mouth to a finding that the rule came back. The rule did not come back. Case-by-case is a later costume for a later kitchen.

November 25, 2025. The Commission finalized the consent order. November 26 release: stop enforcing specified existing noncompetes; prohibited from entering into similar agreements moving forward; nearly 1,800 employees, in that walk. Another walk put approximately 2,000 U.S. employees of an Ontario-based parent and its U.S. subsidiary. I will not add 1,800 and 2,000. Two walks. One final. The Commission voted 2–0 to approve the final order after a public comment period, in the November 26 release. I will keep 2–0 as a later count. I will not freeze a count as a census I sat.

The Decision and Order weather: signing is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission that the law has been violated as alleged, or that the facts as alleged, other than jurisdictional facts, are true. I will keep settlement purposes only. I will keep does not constitute an admission. Neither admit is how a later kitchen sleeps. I will not typeset a notice you can send. The order's model employee letter, in the paper I walked, tells workers a Covered Non-Compete is null and void and that the company will not reinstate covered agreements for ten years. I will keep ten years as a paragraph in a consent. I will not typeset the letter as a kit. A museum can name a letter. A museum will not sell the letter.

Slaughter, in the later Law.com walk of her September dissent: the ban on noncompetes, while appropriate, failed to address Gateway's control of the pet aftercare market. I will keep aftercare as her noun. I will not upgrade a dissent to a finding that a market is a monopoly I sat. A dissent can name a market. A dissent is a mouth.

I am putting C-4825 in this chapter so a grocery line cannot call 2025 a rule that returned, and cannot call case-by-case a vibe. A consent is a consent. A rule that never arrived is a rule that never arrived. Two rooms. One Commission. I will not add them into a novel that says talent can walk because a pet company settled. Perrin is not Gateway. I will not invent her industry.

Osric wrote Gateway C-4825 / Sept 4 proposed / Nov 25 final / ~1800 walk / ~2000 walk / do not add / 2-0 final / settlement only / no admission / 10yr / Slaughter dissent / ≠ the rule and boxed ≠. He laminated a flyer that had used the word ban again. He said ban is still a brochure when it is one company. I said ban is a consent in a later kitchen. He dated the pad.

The Florida Caption and the Letters I Will Not Typeset

Properties of the Villages, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission. Middle District of Florida. D.C. 5:24-cv-00316-TJC-PRL. Eleventh Circuit No. 24-13102. I am putting a Florida number next to a Texas number and a Pennsylvania number so a grocery line cannot call 2024 a vibe one district invented. Three captions. One rule. Three Julys and Augusts that did not agree. Ryan set aside nationwide. ATS denied a stay. Properties of the Villages obtained a preliminary injunction, in the walks that bother with a Florida stamp — the company sits as Plaintiff-Appellee in the Eleventh Circuit's later caption. I will keep Plaintiff-Appellee as a later noun. I will not invent the dollar inside a retirement community. A PI can be a public. A public is not a finding that a researcher can walk.

November 15, 2024. Eleventh Circuit: the motion to hold proceedings in abeyance pending the Fifth Circuit disposition of Ryan is DENIED. Appellee's brief due within thirty days. /s/ Jill Pryor, United States Circuit Judge, in the order I walked. I will keep DENIED as a calendar. I will keep thirty days as a clock that sat in a year the rule had already missed. I will not invent a brief I did not hold. A denial of abeyance is a public. A public is not a finding that Florida would have saved September 4. September 4 had already stayed a date.

September 5, 2025. The Commission voted 3–1 to dismiss 24-13102 with 24-10951 and accede to the vacatur. Ferguson, joined by Holyoak, issued a statement. Meador issued a concurring statement. Slaughter issued a dissenting statement. I already put the 3–1 on the sideboard. I am lighting the Florida number a second time because a grocery line will lose 24-13102 inside 24-10951. Two appeals. One vote. Labels are honest when they stay labels.

The same week, September 4, 2025: the Commission released a Request for Information Regarding Employer Noncompete Agreements, to better understand the scope, prevalence, and effects of employer noncompete agreements and to inform possible future enforcement actions, in the agency's own weather. September 10: warning letters to several large health care employers advising them to review employment contracts, in a later walk. Kelse Moen, in that walk: enforcement against unreasonable noncompete agreements remains a top priority. The RFI and letters noted potential harms in health care markets — nurses, physicians, other medical professionals — particularly acute in rural areas, in that telling. I will keep the RFI as a request. I will keep the letters as weather. I will not typeset a letter you can send. I will not typeset a review you can run. A museum can name an RFI. A museum will not sell an RFI. Three kitchens on one calendar: a Gateway proposed, an RFI, and a next-day dismissal. I will not write a plot that says they called each other. Calendars are not switchboards.

Osric wrote Villages 5:24-cv-00316-TJC-PRL / 24-13102 / PI / Nov 15 abeyance DENIED / Pryor / 3-1 dismisses both / RFI Sept 4 / letters Sept 10 / do not typeset and boxed do not typeset. He laminated a flyer that had used the word priority. He said priority is a brochure. I said priority is a mouth next to a vacatur. He dated the pad.

Sibley asked if a village was a stain that spread from Texas. I said it was a third caption. She said captions are for pictures. I said this caption is a Florida PI. She wiped the nine.

Royce asked whether "Florida" meant "they almost won twice." I said won is a polo word. He said then why the letters. I said the letters are weather I will not typeset. He took a cart.

Voss said frictionless labor-market optionality. I said optionality is a vest hoping an RFI is a rule. He said then why Moen. I said Moen is a mouth. He buffed a shoe.

Perrin asked whether "the village thing" meant she could leave. I said I would not be her Osric, and that a Florida PI is not a permission I will typeset, and that a diner is not an RFI. She paid for the coffee.

I will not give you a letter you can send. I will not give you a review you can run. I will tell you 5:24-cv-00316-TJC-PRL happened, that 24-13102 sat in the Eleventh Circuit, that November 15 denied an abeyance, that a 3–1 dismissed two appeals, that an RFI and healthcare letters sat in the same week as a Gateway proposed, and that a diner is not a finding that talent can walk. The next room is still an invoice that left a shop standing. The contract is still this one.

Sibley asked if a cremation was a stain that needed a different Tuesday. I said it was a later caption. She said captions are for pictures. I said this caption is a C-4825. She wiped the nine. I did not write Gateway on the pouch.

Royce asked whether "Gateway" meant "they banned them after all." I said after all is a polo word. He said then why September. I said September is a proposed next to a dismissal. He took a cart.

Voss said frictionless case-by-case optionality. I said optionality is a vest hoping a consent is a rule. He said then why Slaughter. I said Slaughter is a dissent. He zipped a pocket.

Perrin asked whether "the pet thing" meant she could leave. I said I would not be her Osric, and that a consent in a cremation kitchen is not a permission I will typeset, and that a diner is not a C-4825. She paid for the coffee.

I will not give you a non-compete you can draft. I will not give you a notice you can send. I will tell you C-4825 happened, that September 4 sat next to a dismissal, that November 25 finalized a consent, that ~1,800 and ~2,000 are walks I will not add, that settlement-purposes-only sat in the papers, that ten years sat in a letter I will not typeset, and that a diner is not a finding that talent can walk. The next room is still an invoice that left a shop standing. The contract is still this one.

Sibley asked if a tree service was a stain that needed a different remover. I said it was a caption. She said captions are for pictures. I said this caption is a July 23. She wiped the nine. I did not write ATS on the pouch.

Royce asked whether "Hodge" meant "HR lost in Pennsylvania." I said lost is a polo word. He said then why Texas. I said Texas is August 20. He took a cart.

Voss said frictionless split-circuit synergy. I said synergy is a vest hoping two Julys are a product. He said then why the tree. I said the tree is a plaintiff. He buffed a shoe.

Perrin asked whether "the Pennsylvania thing" meant she could leave. I said I would not be her Osric, and that a denial in a tree-services caption is not a permission I will typeset, and that a diner is not a 6(g). She paid for the coffee.

I will not give you a non-compete you can draft. I will not give you a notice you can send. I will tell you ATS happened, that 2:24-cv-01743-KBH is July 23, that Hodge denied a stay, that July 3 and July 23 ran opposite ways, that August 20 then set the rule aside nationwide, that September 4 never arrived, and that a diner in a state I will not trailer is not a finding that talent can walk. The next room is still an invoice that left a shop standing. The contract is still this one.

Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 3:24-cv-00986-E, Northern District of Texas. Ryan filed April 23, 2024, the day of the vote, in the walks I held. The Chamber of Commerce sued in the Eastern District the next day, then intervened after a stay. Judge Ada Brown. July 3, 2024: preliminary injunction and stay of the effective date as to the named plaintiffs. August 20, 2024: summary judgment for plaintiffs; the Rule set aside; shall not be enforced or otherwise take effect on September 4, 2024, or thereafter. The court said the FTC lacked statutory authority and that the Rule was arbitrary and capricious under the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). Setting aside, in the Fifth Circuit weather the opinion walked, has a nationwide effect and is not party-restricted. I will keep nationwide. I will not invent a shop that tore up a contract that morning. I will say a set-aside can be a public, and that a public is not a finding that a researcher can walk.

September 5, 2025, in a later walk: the Commission voted 3–1 to dismiss its appeal of the set-aside and accept the vacatur, opting to focus on case-by-case enforcement. The Fifth Circuit dismissed the appeal September 8, 2025, in that walk. I am putting a later vote next to an earlier set-aside so a grocery line cannot call 2025 a rule that came back. A dismissal of an appeal is a calendar. A calendar is not a blessing I will typeset as leave.

Osric wrote 3-2 Apr 23 / Ryan 3:24-cv-00986-E / Brown Aug 20 set aside / Sept 4 never / appeal dismissed Sept 2025 / case-by-case mouth and boxed never. He laminated a coupon that had used the word free. He said free is a brochure. I said free is not in the set-aside I held.

Sibley asked if a set-aside was a stain remover. I said it was a stamp. She said stamps are for letters. I said this stamp is a rule that did not arrive. She wiped the nine.

Perrin has never signed a non-compete I know about. I will not invent one. She asked whether "the Texas thing" meant she could leave. I said I would not be her Osric. She paid for the coffee.

Royce asked whether "Ada Brown" meant "HR won." I said won is a polo word. He said then why September. I said September is a date that stayed a date. He took a cart.

I will not give you a non-compete you can draft. I will tell you 3–2 happened, that 3:24-cv-00986-E happened, that August 20 set the rule aside, that September 4 never took effect, that a later Commission voted to stop appealing, and that a diner in a state I will not trailer is not a finding that talent can walk. The next room is an invoice that left a shop standing. The contract is this one.