Harville v. Gunter
| Decision Date | 15 January 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. A97A2155,A97A2155 |
| Citation | 495 S.E.2d 862,230 Ga.App. 198 |
| Parties | , 1998-1 Trade Cases P 72,040, 98 FCDR 401 HARVILLE v. GUNTER. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Shepherd & Johnston, William G. Johnston III, Griffin, for appellant.
Alan W. Connell, Thomaston, for appellee.
Karen Harville appeals from the trial court's judgment granting K.B. Gunter's, d/b/a Exceptional Rehab Services (Exceptional Rehab), request for an injunction upholding the covenant not to compete in Harville's employment contract. Harville brings ten enumerations of error, contending in main part that the covenant not to compete is overbroad and unreasonable in its terms. We agree and reverse the judgment of the trial court.
Exceptional Rehab hired Harville as a speech pathologist in July 1995. Harville signed a covenant not to compete at the time she was hired and again a year later. The covenant not to compete which she signed in July 1996, required her to "restrict her actions" as follows:
A little over three months after signing this agreement, Harville informed Exceptional Rehab that she was quitting her job effective December 31, 1996. Harville then took a job with Professional Rehabilitation Services and began practicing speech pathology at Riverside Nursing Home in Thomaston, Georgia, which is in Upson County. Harville had previously practiced speech pathology at Riverside Nursing Home for Exceptional Rehab.
Exceptional Rehab filed a request for an injunction pursuant to the contract. The trial court granted the injunction, finding the covenant not to compete was neither unreasonable nor overly broad. This appeal followed.
The majority of Harville's enumerations of error concern claims that several portions of the covenant are unenforceable because they are unreasonable and overbroad. (Citations and punctuation omitted.) W.R. Grace & Co. v. Mouyal, 262 Ga. 464, 465(1), 422 S.E.2d 529 (1992). Applying this three-element test to the agreement before us, we find two...
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