Court Opinion

ID: 9743166
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:27:03.297956+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:39.697730
License: Public Domain

ALLOY, J., concurring specially. I concur in the result of the opinion in the above case but not with all of the reasons assigned for such opinion. I feel that the case of The House of Vision, Inc. v. Hiyane, 37 Ill2d 32, 225 NE2d 21, underscores the specific basis upon which this cause should be determined, where the court says at page 39: “To stake out unrealistic boundaries in time and space, as the employer did in this case, is to impose upon an employee the risk of proceeding at his peril, or the burden of expensive litigation to ascertain the scope of his obligation. While we do not hold that a court of equity may never modify the restraints embodied in a contract of this type and enforce them as modified, the fairness of the restraint initially imposed is a relevant consideration to a court of equity. We conclude that the restrictions in the employment contract were not reasonably necessary for the protection of the plaintiff.” The contract in the cause before us sought to establish a limitation on the employee in engaging in the business of a professional business counselor within a radius of 50 miles of the City of Chicago. While the time limitations would seem reasonable, this is not so as to the area limitation. On the basis of the record before us, it is not shown that the area restriction is reasonably necessary for protection of the plaintiff. As stated in the Hiyane case, the fact that the court had limited the application of injunctive relief thereafter to the municipal limits of the City of Chicago does not change the fact that the fairness of the restraint initially imposed did not appear to be reasonably necessary for the protection of the plaintiff. The considerations outlined in the Hiyane case, therefore, on the record shown in this cause justify withholding of injunctive relief unless a clear right to such relief is otherwise shown.