Court Opinion

ID: 9559715
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:34:15.253735+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:34.215516
License: Public Domain

WADE, Justice.
I dissent. The enforcement of this contract results in very unfair treatment of the plaintiff. I do not believe that such treatment is necessary for the protection of the good will of this business.
The plaintiff entered into this employment contract with the reasonable expectation that he would be dealt with in good faith and that this employment would continue for a long time if his work was satisfactory. Otherwise, there was no point for him to spend his off time working without pay in the store before his regular work began nor for him and his wife to spend long hours and to draw on their personal friends to build up the business, nor would he be much concerned about having a provision in the contract that he should obtain a bonus which he could invest in stock of the company and thereby acquire a 25 percent interest therein. But he did sign this contract which allowed the employer to terminate his employment without fault on his part on 30 days notice, in which case he 'agreed not to compete with the store within a radius of two miles for a period of five years. This provision provided the means whereby his employer could take an unfair advantage of him without violating the express terms of the agreement, but if the employer deliberately planned to do this at the time the con*620tract was made, it would be a case of bad faith which I believe no court would uphold. It would be no less a hardship on plaintiff to enforce this contract even though defendant first thought of obtaining such result some time after the contract was executed.
By the terms of this contract, the restrictive provision not only eliminated competition which is in itself often considered sufficient to avoid such a provision, but it exposed plaintiff to the danger of sharp and unfair practices. Plaintiff acting in good faith under this contract by its provisions was induced to give his spare time to the store without pay before his regular employment began, and after it began he and his wife spent long hours and applied all of their personal friendship and personalities to build the good will of the store in the expectation that they would participate in the benefits derived therefrom only to receive notice of the termination of the employment in less than a year. There has never been any claim that plaintiff’s work was not satisfactory. As a result of that contract, the defendant has obtained the services of a competent and conscientious manager over the crucial period of its existence, and the benefit of a good will which no doubt largely resulted from the high esteem in which he was held in that community, rather than anything the store had done aside from his connection therewith, and has been freed from any possibility that he compete with it in that territory. This because he was gullible enough to rely on them to treat him fairly. I do not think that “it is necessary for the protection of the good will of the business” for us to approve this kind of a contract. I therefore dissent.