Opinion ID: 409265
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claims for additional relief

Text: 77 In addition to its request for injunctive and declaratory relief on its contract claim, the plaintiff introduced certain evidence at trial which it now claims supports a finding of tortious conduct on the part of the defendants, although no such claim was stated in the complaint. As relief for the alleged tortious conduct, the plaintiff seeks to restrain each of the defendants from contacting his former Medtronic customers for one additional year beyond the 360 days provided for in the non-competition agreement. The plaintiff seeks also to amend its complaint to conform with the evidence presented at trial. The court denies the plaintiff's requests for several reasons. 78 First, at the time that this court consolidated these cases, and at the time that the defendants conducted discovery and otherwise prepared for trial, these cases were represented to be three virtually identical breach of contract cases. The court finds that the defendants would be unduly prejudiced by any attempt to transform those cases at this time into three very dissimilar tort actions. Second, the additional relief which the plaintiff requests is effectively directed against Intermedics, Inc., which has never been made a party to this action. Any such attempt to punish a non-party to this action seems to the court to be inappropriate, regardless of the interest which the non-party may have in the proceedings. Finally, to the extent that any such tortious conduct could be proven, there has been no attempt made to prove that there has been any injury as a result of the tortious conduct per se, as distinguished from the injury caused by the breach of contract alone. In all, the court finds that the parties did not consent to the trial of Medtronic's tort claims pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(b), and that justice requires that the plaintiff's request to amend its complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a) or 15(d) be denied.
79 The plaintiff's final request for additional relief suggests that because of the defendants' close relationships among themselves, their rotation of former Medtronic territories to serve as temporary Intermedics territories, and their habit of covering each other's surgeries, each defendant should be enjoined from entering the former Medtronic territory of either of his co-defendants for the remainder of the 360-day non-competition period. The court rejects the plaintiff's argument. 80 The court recognizes that attempts to circumvent restrictive covenants may, in some cases, justify restraints on non-parties to the covenants. See Arwell Division of Orkin Exterminating Co. v. Kendrick, 131 Ill.App.2d 632, 267 N.E.2d 352 (3d Dist. 1971) (wife held to be bound by husband's non-competition agreement). Nevertheless, the court cannot find that the defendants here were so identified with each other as to be considered each other's agents or alter egos, and will not restrict them from each other's former Medtronic territories. Of course, none of the defendants is free to reenter his own former territory for the purpose of introducing one of his codefendants to potential customers, and the defendants are not free, under the terms of the non-competition agreement, to impart to each other any confidential information they might possess regarding particular contacts within their former Medtronic territories. Any such contacts or information would represent an impermissible attempt to appropriate Medtronic's protectible customer relationships discussed above. See Donald McElroy, Inc. v. Delaney, 72 Ill.App.3d at 291-2, 27 Ill.Dec. 892, 389 N.E.2d 1300.