Attorneys representing Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta have agreed on a proposed schedule for the submission of court documents in connection with the preliminary injunction request to bar designer Laura Kim, a former Herrera employee, from working at de la Renta until her non-compete runs out in April.
The parties are planning for Herrera’s legal team to file supplemental papers on Dec. 29; followed by opposition documents by defendants Kim and de la Renta on Jan. 5. Herrera’s legal team get to file a reply by 5 p.m. on Jan. 9. The preliminary injunction hearing is still set for Jan. 10. Herrera herself is not party in the dispute.
New York State Supreme Court Judge Jeffrey Oing on Wednesday had granted Herrera a temporary restraining order barring Kim from working at de la Renta until the hearing. By Friday, the restraining order was lifted.
A de la Renta spokesman on Friday said the company is looking forward to returning to court on the hearing date to “fully brief the court on the non-compete matter and to more fully answer the claims in the lawsuit…”
Herrera’s company said it understood the judge’s reasoning for the reversal of the restraining order and to “ensure the January 10 hearing is the final word on the question of the preliminary injunction.” The company added that if the preliminary injunction is granted, the opposing parties understand they will be prohibited from using any and all work product created before Jan. 10.
The legal drama details the intense competition between the two firms. Court documents contained allegations that Herrera the designer was being transitioned out of the creative director role. According to Herrera’s suit, the company continues to pay Kim 50 percent of her monthly base salary during the non-compete period. Kim used to work at de la Renta, before becoming a consultant at Herrera and then subsequently its senior vice president for design.