Be sure you know what you’re giving up when signing a general release.
As Zuckerman Spaeder partner Jason Knott explains in Suits by Suits, general releases “mean what they say even if employees and employers later disagree as to whether they actually meant to give up their claims.”
Take the case of Mattatall v. Transdermal. Debourah Mattatall once owned DPM Therapeutics Corporation, which she sold to Transdermal. Knott says DPM’s minority shareholders sued her to prevent the sale, but she sold the company anyway and signed a stock purchase agreement and employment agreement with Transdermal.
After the sale was final, Transdermal sued the DPM minority shareholders. Knott says all parties, including Mattatall, eventually settled the two shareholder cases.
