Court Opinion

ID: 9550197
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:31:20.068027+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:31.239132
License: Public Domain

WOLFE, Chief Justice
(concurring in part — dissenting in part).
My concurrence is limited to the reason stated by the majority opinion that:
“The plaintiff as the owner of the business exacted this covenant from the defendant for the purpose of protecting her own interests. She is entitled to enforce it on her own behalf.”
*164In Allen v. Rose Park Pharmacy, . . . Utah . . ., 1951, 237 P. 2d 823, 826, we held:
“Restrictive covenants are generally upheld by the courts where they are necessary for the protection of the business * * * and no greater restraint is imposed than is reasonably necessary to secure such protection.”
But I am not prepared to concur in the inference stated in- the majority opinion that Arthur Murray, Inc. of New York City and Helene Shaw, d/b/ Arthur Murray Dance Studio of Salt Lake City, are joint promisees. The contract here being sued upon is a contract of employment signed by Helene Shaw and Ara M. Dimond [now Jeppson]. It was apparently drafted by Arthur Murray, Inc. and the restrictive covenant here being enforced was obviously included for the protection of Arthur Murray, Inc. as well as Helene Shaw. Arthur Murray, Inc. may be a third party beneficiary, but it is not clear to me that it is a primary party to the Shaw-Jeppson contract. To so infer seems unnecessary to this decision. This proposition is not mentioned in the briefs.