Bellefeuille v. Equine Sports Med. & Surgery, Weatherford Div., PLLC
| Decision Date | 24 March 2016 |
| Docket Number | NO. 02-15-00268-CV,02-15-00268-CV |
| Parties | MOLLY BELLEFEUILLE, DVM APPELLANT v. EQUINE SPORTS MEDICINE & SURGERY, WEATHERFORD DIVISION, PLLC APPELLEE |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
FROM THE 415TH DISTRICT COURT OF PARKER COUNTY
Appellant Molly Bellefeuille appeals from the trial court's amended order granting appellee Equine Sports Medicine & Surgery, Weatherford Division,PLLC (ESMS) a temporary injunction.2 Because we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by granting injunctive relief but that portions of the order are overly broad or vague, we modify the order to address those deficiencies and affirm it as modified.
After Bellefeuille received her general veterinary degree, she was hired for a one-year internship with ESMS, which offers equine surgical internship and residency programs. Very few veterinary hospitals offer such programs, making each position highly competitive. One of the reasons ESMS found Bellefeuille to be an attractive candidate was the fact that she was a "life-long" Washington resident and had received her veterinary degree from a school in Washington, which would make it less likely that she would directly compete with ESMS once her internship was completed. As part of her internship, Bellefeuille signed an agreement (the internship agreement) under which she agreed not to compete with ESMS after her internship ended:
[D]uring the period that [Bellefeuille] is employed by [ESMS] and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter, [Bellefeuille] shall not directly or indirectly, on [Bellefeuille's] own behalf, on behalf of or with any other party, person or entity, including but not limited to, any relationship as a partner, joint-venturer, director, shareholder, owner, employee or independent contractor, market or provide services similar to the services which [ESMS] provides to its patients or customers at any location within 50-miles of any location, includingany race track practices, in which [Bellefeuille] has provided services for [ESMS] during the last twelve (12) months of [Bellefeuille's] employment by [ESMS] . . . .
The consideration for the agreement was ESMS's promise to provide Bellefeuille with confidential information—"information that is not readily available to the general public and which relates to or reflects [ESMS's] business and its clients such as business and marketing plans, patient lists, software, case histories, x-ray films, and personal and regular patient files, price lists, [or] methods of operation"—which Bellefeuille promised not to disclose.
At the end of her internship in 2012, Bellefeuille was not accepted into any of her chosen surgical residency programs affiliated with universities; thus, she asked Dr. Reese Hand at ESMS if she could stay at ESMS for a surgical residency. ESMS admitted Bellefeuille to its residency program at Hand's request,3 and Bellefeuille signed an employment agreement (the residency agreement), which contained a noncompete covenant (the noncompete provision). It provided that Bellefeuille would not compete with ESMS within a fifty-mile radius for a period of eighteen months after her residency ended. In exchange, ESMS agreed to provide Bellefeuille with ESMS's confidential and proprietary information.
Ancillary to this otherwise enforceable [employment] Agreement and [ESMS's] agreement to provide [Bellefeuille] with ConfidentialInformation which [ESMS] desires to protect: (a) during the period that [Bellefeuille] is employed by [ESMS] and for a period of eighteen (18) months thereafter, [Bellefeuille] shall not enter into or engage in any relationship in a capacity similar to the capacity in which [she] worked for [ESMS], as a partner, joint-venturer, director, shareholder, owner, employee or independent contractor with any person or entity that provides services similar to the services that [ESMS] provides to its patients or customers at any location within 50 miles of any ESMS location . . . in which [Bellefeuille] has provided services for [ESMS] during the last twelve (12) months of [Bellefeuille's] employment by [ESMS] . . . .
The confidential and proprietary information to be provided to Bellefeuille was specified in the residency agreement similar to the internship agreement:
Such confidential and proprietary information includes, but is not limited to, information that is not readily available to the general public and which relates to or reflects [ESMS's] business and its clients such as business and marketing plans, patient lists, software, case histories, x-ray films, personal and regular patient files, price lists, and methods of operation . . . .
Bellefeuille agreed not to "disclose or use any Confidential Information by any means whatsoever during the term of this Agreement or in the future" (the confidential-information provision). Bellefeuille's residency agreement superseded her prior internship agreement.
Approximately six months before the end of Bellefeuille's three-year residency, Hand told her that a permanent position at ESMS would not be available for her. Bellefeuille did receive eight job offers by the end of her residency, two of which were inside the restricted, fifty-mile area: "[o]ne working for a ranch in the area and one doing [her] own thing." Bellefeuille accepted none of these offers and instead contacted a veterinarian affiliated with BrazosValley Equine Hospital (BVEH) to ask about possible employment at its Stephenville facility, which undisputedly is located less than fifty miles from ESMS and is one of ESMS's biggest competitors. She did this because she "had purchased a house [in Stephenville] a year before because [she] thought [she] was staying in the area" to work for ESMS after one of ESMS's surgeons, Chris Ray, moved to Montana the year before. Bellefeuille accepted employment with BVEH and began working there on June 15, 2015, after her residency ended in May 2015. She admitted that this placed her "between Dr. Hand and some of his biggest clients."
Shortly thereafter, Bellefeuille filed a petition for declaratory judgment, seeking a declaration either that the provision was not enforceable or that her employment with BVEH did not violate the provision. ESMS filed verified counterclaims for breach of contract and fraud and sought an injunction prohibiting Bellefeuille from performing equine veterinary services within fifty miles of ESMS or disclosing ESMS's confidential information. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 682. Bellefeuille's residency agreement provided for injunctive relief:
Bellefeuille filed a notice of accelerated appeal, challenging the temporary-injunction order. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(a)(4) (West Supp. 2015); Tex. R. App. P. 28.1. Trial on the merits of Bellefeuille's and ESMS's claims is currently set for July 12, 2016.
The purpose of a temporary injunction is to preserve the status quo of the litigation's subject matter pending a trial on the merits. Janus Films, Inc. v. City of Fort Worth, 358 S.W.2d 589, 589 (Tex. 1962). Whether to grant or deny a temporary injunction is a decision within the trial court's sound discretion. Harris Cty. v. Gordon, 616 S.W.2d 167, 168 (Tex. 1981). In reviewing that decision, we do not review the merits of the underlying case but determine only whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting or denying the relief. Iranian Muslim Org. v. City of San Antonio, 615 S.W.2d 202, 210 (Tex. 1981); see City of Arlington v. City of Fort Worth, 873 S.W.2d 765, 768 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1994, writ dism'd w.o.j.). Accordingly, we review the evidence submitted to the trial court in the light most favorable to the court's ruling, draw all legitimate inferences from the evidence, and defer to the trial court's resolution of conflicting evidence. See IAC, Ltd. v. Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., 160 S.W.3d 191, 196 ...
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