Court Opinion

ID: 9883319
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 01:40:12.074296+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:22.624048
License: Public Domain

Judge COZORT
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the employment agreement executed by defendant Robert F. McMahon is unreasonable in respect to time and territory. In my opinion, the trial court did not err in entering the preliminary injunction, and I vote to affirm.
In Clyde Rudd & Associates, Inc. v. Taylor, 29 N.C. App. 679, 225 S.E.2d 602 (1976), this Court considered the reasonableness of a restrictive covenant in an employment contract of a sales representative. The representative was assigned a 10-county territory in North Carolina. His employment contract provided he would not compete with his employer in North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Virginia and Tennessee for a period of two years. This Court held those facts were insufficient to permit a determination that the covenant was unreasonable as to territory. Id. at 684, 225 S.E.2d at 605. I find that reasoning applicable to the facts below, where the defendant was employed to develop the plaintiff’s business in the Wilmington area (although the executed contract did not restrict defendant’s working area to Wilmington) and the non-competition clause applied to North Carolina.
*151I also find nothing unreasonable about the two-year time restriction. My review of the applicable case law indicates that two-year restrictions are generally found reasonable. See, e.g., Keith v. Day, 81 N.C. App. 185, 343 S.E.2d 562 (1986). Further, I find nothing in the record to support the majority’s conclusion that the practical effect of the restriction is to stifle competition. To the contrary, defendant testified to at least six other auto leasing companies in Wilmington, including Hertz, Avis, National, Budget, Snappy, and Claudia’s, with the last two presumably local operations as opposed to national chains.
I vote to affirm the trial court.