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Indianapolis broadcast station WISH-TV’s former chief meteorologist is suing the station’s broadcasting company over a noncompete agreement that she claims is preventing her from accepting new job opportunities.
Meteorologist Ashley Brown, who worked at WISH-TV from 2017 to early 2025, filed the lawsuit against Circle City Broadcasting I LLC on Wednesday in Marion Superior Court.
The broadcasting company did not respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment before Friday’s deadline.
Brown is represented by Scott Morrisson and Marsha Jean-Baptiste with Krieg DeVault LLP. Her attorneys did not respond to The Lawyer’s request for comment before Friday’s deadline.
Brown alleges that in Nov. 2022, she renewed her employment with the broadcasting company and entered into an employment agreement with them.
That employment agreement states that, unless she is terminated earlier, her employment with the company runs from early December 2022 through early December 2026.
Also within the agreement is a noncompete provision which states that, for one year after her employment ends for any reason, Brown cannot accept employment “involving the rendering of any services, (including electronic media) whether or not for compensation, live or recorded, over the facilities of any radio or commercial television station” within the Indianapolis market.
Brown says she currently has a pending opportunity to begin a new role in the Indianapolis area.
The lawsuit argues that this noncompete clause is overly broad as a matter of state law. Brown says her inability to render “any services” to a competing company is not limited to just her role as a meteorologist but instead prevents her from accepting employment with a competitor no matter what the role is.
On June 27, attorneys for Brown wrote a letter to the owner of Circle City Broadcasting requesting that she be released from her noncompete agreement.
Moments after receiving their letter, the owner allegedly responded with his personal grievance regarding Brown and ultimately refused to release her from the noncompete. He stated that the agreement was “a standard industry non-compete.”
According to Brown’s lawsuit, Circle City Broadcasting was recently denied a motion for a temporary restraining order against another former employee regarding the same noncompete standards.
The court in that case held that the broadcasting company didn’t show a likelihood of success at trial.
The court also found that similar “broad restrictions” like the one in Brown’s agreement, have been found to be overbroad, Brown’s counsel said in the lawsuit.
She is seeking a preliminary injunction prohibiting the company from enforcing her noncompete provision.
The case is Ashley M. Brown v. Circle City Broadcasting I, LLC, 49D01-2507-CE-032544.
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