Court Opinion

ID: 9586419
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:10:30.795428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:08.195043
License: Public Domain

Mobley, Justice,
dissenting. I do not agree that the restriction in the employment contract against the defendant’s working or obtaining employment in any capacity with a competitor of petitioner was not reasonably necessary for the protection of the petitioner and that the restrictive covenant is for that reason void and unenforceable. An employee who had obtained trade secrets or sales information from his employer could disclose such to his next employer, while serving as a truck driver, night watchman, or in any other position, the same as if he were holding a position similar to that held with the former employer. In my opinion the nature of employment is not the controlling factor, since he could as well make use of sales information, trade secrets, etc., of his former employer in one position as in another. I must admit that this court in Dixie Bearings, Inc. v. Walker, 219 Ga. 353 (133 SE2d 338), held contrary to this, and I concurred in that opinion. However, there was a special concurrence by Chief Justice Duckworth, and the judgment there rendered would, therefore, not be binding.
Chief Justice Duckworth and Mr. Justice Candler authorize me to state that they concur in this dissent.