Case Title: DeVoe v. Cheatham

Citation: 413 So. 2d 1141

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1982-04-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
413 So. 2d 1141 (1982)
Richard M. DeVOE
v.
Robert L. CHEATHAM, et al.
80-807.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
April 30, 1982.
Stephen V. Hammond, of Chenault, Chenault & Hammond, Decatur, for appellant.
Albert P. Brewer, of Brewer, Lentz, Nelson & Whitmire, Decatur, for appellees.
FAULKNER, Justice.
This is an appeal from an action to enjoin Richard DeVoe from competing with his former employer by installing vinyl automobile roofs for another employer. The trial court granted the injunction. We reverse.
On April 30, 1979, Richard DeVoe entered into an employment contract with Pop's Vinyl Tops in Decatur, Alabama. The contract provided:
The contract also provided a weekly salary of $200.00. The contract did not provide a term of agreed employment, and thus was terminable at will.
DeVoe had little or no experience in installing vinyl tops. Mr. Cheatham, the owner of Pop's Vinyl Tops, taught DeVoe how to install the tops. The record indicates *1142 that DeVoe became proficient in the installation of tops, moldings and stripes on cars.
Mr. Cheatham terminated DeVoe's employment, in May, 1980, and rehired him six weeks later. Mr. Cheatham testified that he discharged DeVoe because DeVoe was overextending himself with other odd jobs. DeVoe testified that Cheatham had fired him because the company was not making enough profit to pay his salary. DeVoe voluntarily terminated his employment with Cheatham in November, 1980, and became employed by a competing vinyl top shop.
Cheatham and Pop's Vinyl Tops brought suit to enjoin DeVoe from competing. The trial court granted a preliminary injunction. On March 10, 1981, the trial judge entered a motion granting a permanent injunction for five years.
Section 8-1-1, Code 1975, provides:
This statute expresses the public policy of Alabama that contracts in restraint of trade are disfavored. See Cullman Broadcasting Co. v. Bosley, 373 So. 2d 830 (Ala.1979); Robinson v. Computer Servicenters, Inc., 346 So. 2d 940 (Ala.1977), Hill v. Rice, 259 Ala. 587, 67 So. 2d 789 (1953). The courts will not enforce the terms of such a negative covenant unless:
See Code 1975, § 8-1-1; Id.
In the present case, the restriction is not enforceable because the employer, Cheatham, has no protectable interest in restraining DeVoe from working for another vinyl top business. In order to have a protectable interest, the employer must possess "a substantial right in its business sufficiently unique to warrant the type of protection contemplated by [a] noncompetition agreement." Cullman Broadcasting Co. v. Bosley, 373 So. 2d  at 836.
The Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 188, Comment B (1979), explains when a promisee/employer has a sufficient interest to warrant protection:
If an employee is in a position to gain confidential information, access to secret lists, or to develop a close relationship with clients, the employer may have a protectable interest in preventing that employee from competing. But in the present case, DeVoe learned no more than the normal skills of the vinyl top installation trade, and he did not engage in soliciting customers. There is no evidence that he either developed any special relationship with the customers, or had access to any confidential information or trade secrets. A simple labor skill, without more, is simply not enough to give an employer a substantial protectable right unique in his business. To hold otherwise would place an undue burden on the ordinary laborer and prevent him or her from supporting his or her family.
In view of the facts of this case, we find that the trial court should not have granted injunctive relief. The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
TORBERT, C. J., and ALMON, EMBRY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.