Court Opinion

ID: 9728255
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:03:11.340062+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:47.180967
License: Public Domain

EARNS, J., dissenting: In my opinion the covenant is adhesive, a blatant attempt to restrain competition and unconscionable. As in American Food Management, Inc. v. Henson (1982), 105 Ill. App. 3d 141, 434 N.E.2d 59, defendant relocated from Louisiana to Illinois and became an at-will employee of plaintiff on an oral agreement. Defendant’s salary was readjusted from time to time in any manner that plaintiff chose. It seems clear that there was no discussion of a restrictive covenant until the 1977 contract was signed, after defendant had moved to Illinois, and defendant’s salary was further readjusted, to his disadvantage. But that contract gave him no protection; he could be terminated on 30 days’ notice, and even though he had worked for plaintiff for 20 years, the covenant would prevent him from practicing his profession within 50 miles of Olney for five years. In 1983, without any consultation with defendant, plaintiff employed another chiropractor, Dr. Hughes, and referred patients to him, further reducing defendant’s income. It is not apparent just what economic harm befell plaintiff, as business was so good that an additional employee was hired. In any event, lack of good faith in an employment relationship is of relevance in enforcement of restrictive covenants. Rao v. Rao (7th Cir. 1983), 718 F.2d 219. The cases cited by the majority upholding the validity of similar restrictions by medical professions would appear to support the majority position; however, on analysis, they involve generally the negotiation of agreements among professionals, usually partners, of equal bargaining power in populous areas of the State. Defendant here was an at-will employee. This appears to me to be a covenant designed to restrict competition of the kind that has been considered invalid as a restraint of trade against the public interest. See generally Note, 1978 U. Ill. L.F. 249, 251.