Premier Industrial Corp. v. Texas Industrial Fastener Co., 71-1093.

• Decision Date: 04 November 1971
• Docket Number: No. 71-1093.,71-1093.
• Citation: 450 F.2d 444
• Parties: PREMIER INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. TEXAS INDUSTRIAL FASTENER COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant, Ed Roos, Intervenor-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

450 F.2d 444 (1971)

PREMIER INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. TEXAS INDUSTRIAL FASTENER COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant, Ed Roos, Intervenor-Appellant.

No. 71-1093.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

November 4, 1971.

Jack R. Bailey, Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellant and intervenor-appellant.

William E. Wright, Robert W. B. Dickerson, Houston, Tex., for appellee.

Before WISDOM, COLEMAN and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.

SIMPSON, Circuit Judge:

Premier Industrial Corporation, an Ohio corporation, (Premier), brought this action against Texas Industrial Fastener Company (TIFCO), a Texas corporation, and Ed Roos, seeking specific performance and other relief under an employment contract between Premier and Roos and a Settlement Agreement executed by the corporate parties in January and February of 1969. The lower court granted the requested relief. Error in its judgment is not demonstrated. Hence we affirm, with a slight modification.

Premier and TIFCO are business competitors engaged in commerce in Nebraska and other states. They engage in sales distribution of the same and similar products, i. e., industrial fasteners and automotive parts. During the several years prior to this action, TIFCO had hired several sales agents of Premier whose contracts of employment with Premier contained covenants not to compete. These covenants each provided that ex-employees would not associate in any way with any business in competition with Premier for a period of two years after termination of their employment contracts with Premier within the geographical sales area defined in the contracts.

TIFCO's proselyting of Premier's sales agents became the subject of several lawsuits brought by Premier to enjoin the employment by TIFCO of Premier's sales agents under anti-competition covenants. Finally, in January of 1969, the corporate parties to this suit entered into the aforementioned Settlement Agreement. In consideration of Premier's agreement to dismiss with prejudice a damage suit pending against TIFCO in the Harris County, Texas District Court for tortious interference with the contractual relationships of Premier with its sales agents, TIFCO agreed, inter alia, to no longer hire, employ or utilize in any manner any employee or exemployee of Premier in a manner so as to violate valid¹ anti-competition covenants in his employment contract or to cause, induce, or procure any employee of Premier to violate said covenants.

The present action was precipitated by the hiring of one Ed Roos, a Premier employee, by TIFCO in January 1969.² Roos had been a sales agent of Premier in Douglas County, Nebraska. The covenants not to compete in Roos' employment contract with Premier were limited to two years and to Douglas County. Roos continued to work in Douglas County after being employed by TIFCO, selling TIFCO's line of products. Premier formally terminated Roos' employment in March 1969, and instituted this action against TIFCO in October 1969.³ At trial, TIFCO relied on two arguments to avoid liability under the Settlement Agreement: (1) that it had hired Roos prior to the execution of the Settlement Agreement, and that thus the hiring of Roos was not covered by the agreement; and (2) that at the time it hired Roos TIFCO was unaware of any restrictive covenants in Roos' contract with Premier. Roos had signed a statement declaring that he was not subject to any covenants against competition in his contract with Premier. TIFCO essentially argued that this misrepresentation by Roos excused it from any liability for violation of the Settlement Agreement. Roos defended on the basis of the invalidity and unenforceability of the covenants, and intervened in the action, asking for injunctive relief.

The trial court held that it had jurisdiction of the case, and as to TIFCO:

1. that the Settlement Agreement was valid and enforceable;

2. that TIFCO willfully breached the agreement; and as to Roos:

1. that Premier's contract with Roos was executed without fraud, accident or mistake, was supported by consideration and mutuality, and that the terms of the contract were not vague or ambiguous;

2. that Premier had a valid economic interest to protect;

3. that the provisions of the covenants were reasonable, did not violate public policy or constitute an illegal restraint of trade; and

4. that Roos directly violated his contract with Premier.

In its final judgment, the trial court (1) enjoined TIFCO until January 1, 1972 from utilizing Roos' services in such a manner as to violate his anti-competition covenants with Premier; (2) ordered TIFCO to specifically perform the Settlement Agreement; (3) enjoined Roos until January 1, 1972 from violating his covenants with Premier; and (4) awarded Premier attorney's fees as provided in the agreement. TIFCO and Ed Roos both appealed.

On appeal, the appellants initially contend that the $10,000 jurisdictional amount required in diversity cases (Title 28, U.S.C., Section 1332) was not proven below.

The court below found that:

"Though sums in controversy in both the main action and the intervention were not clearly delineated as being in excess of $10,000 the Court finds that notwithstanding, the Court has jurisdiction."

Appellants claim that this finding does not meet the requirements of Title 28, U.S.C., Section 1332. We disagree. This action was brought in equity, which by its very nature presupposes the difficulty of ascertaining actual damages. The value to the plaintiff of the rights he is seeking to protect is the measure of jurisdiction in equity cases, even though the value of that right may not be capable of exact valuation in money. See Hedberg v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 8 Cir. 1965, 350 F.2d 924; accord, Seaboard Finance Co. v. Martin, 5 Cir. 1957, 244 F.2d 329; also see, Dosdall v. Fraser, D.Mont.1965, 246 F.Supp. 311; Zep Mfg. Corp. v. Haber, S.D.Tex.1962, 202 F.Supp. 847; Burndy Corp. v. Cahill, D.Minn.1961, 196 F.Supp. 619. Nor has it been overly difficult in the past for federal courts to find the requisite jurisdictional amount in actions brought to enforce covenants not to compete. See, e. g., Hedberg v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., supra; National Chemsearch Corp. of N. Y. v. Bogatin, E.D.Penn.1964, 233 F. Supp. 802, vacated on other grounds, 3 Cir. 1965, 349 F.2d 363. The court below could have found the presence of the requisite amount in controversy as well as irreparable injury upon each of a number of approaches: (a) the value of the damage suit against TIFCO dismissed with prejudice by Premier in consideration for the Settlement Agreement; (b) the value of Premier's lost sales revenue because of the employment of Roos by TIFCO (an amount contested by the parties); (c) the value of the future effect of TIFCO's breach and the intervention by Roos upon all of Premier's other contracts with its sales agents. Additionally, this Court has held, in Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Horton, 5 Cir. 1960, 275 F.2d 148, that the jurisdictional amount may be established by considering the amount alleged by the counterclaim in aggregate with the main claim. Ed Roos pleaded that the amount in controversy in his counterclaim in intervention exceeded the sum of $10,000. This assertion was not contested by the parties.⁴

It should also be noted that the value of the attorney's fees Premier was entitled to recover under the Settlement Agreement (here, $3,500) is properly includable in determining the amount in controversy. See, Batts Restaurant, Inc. v. Commercial Ins. Co. of Newark, 7 Cir. 1969, 406 F.2d 118; Cupples Co. Mfrs. v. Farmers & Merchants St. Bank, 5 Cir. 1968, 390 F.2d 184. Thus although the value of the present and potential loss to Premier may be difficult of ascertainment, we think it is clear that this loss is considerable and of sufficient amount to confer jurisdiction in this case. The awkward phrasing used by the trial judge in framing his jurisdictional finding (supra) will not operate to defeat jurisdiction otherwise...