Court Opinion

ID: 9854818
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:14:35.126207+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:26.955918
License: Public Domain

Hill, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the judgment of the court but am unable to agree with the reasoning of the majority.
As I understand the opinion and decision, the majority hold that the restrictive covenant in this contract was void ab initio because the original territory was too indefinite. The majority find this covenant to be indefinite on its face, whether or not the employee was transferred, because there is no boundary described for any place to which the employee may be transferred. If the majority predicated its decision on the fact that the employee was in fact transferred to Orlando, Florida, I could agree that at that point the covenant became invalid. However, I agree that this covenant was void ab initio (although my reasons differ from those of the majority) and hence I concur in the judgment.
Pretermitting the question of whether the 12 city territory was reasonably necessary to protect some legitimate business of the employer (Purcell v. Joyner; 231 Ga. 85 (2) (200 SE2d 363) (1973); Wulfhorst v. Hudgins & Co., 231 Ga. 170, 172 (200 SE2d 743) (1973)), I find this restrictive covenant to be unenforceable.
The employment contract provides that the employer employs the employee for its Chamblee, Georgia, office. The two year restrictive covenant appears in paragraph 8 and the 12 city territory in paragraph 8(e).
The second sentence in paragraph 9 provides: "The *287Employee does expressly understand and agree that in the event of a change of territory to which he may be assigned by the Company, his responsibilities and obligations as to each and every covenant as set forth in Paragraph 8 above shall pertain and apply in every particular (in addition to the territory stated in Paragraph 8 above) to any territory to which the Employee is assigned and has worked for the Company during any part of the twelve (12) month period next preceding the termination of this agreement for any reasons whatsoever.”
According to the quoted provision, the employee may be transferred to Timbuktu, spend 20 years there in the employ of the company, and be prohibited from working for a competitor in the Atlanta area for the following two years. Such a restriction is unreasonable.
It is immaterial that the first sentence in paragraph 9 would not have this effect; the second sentence does; and we will not sever the broader, more restrictive provision so as to leave the narrower, valid provision. Rita Personnel Services v. Kot, 229 Ga. 314 (191 SE2d 79) (1972).
Because I find the covenant unenforceable, I concur in the judgment.