Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2008] All ER (D) 276 (May)
Neutral Citation: [2008] EWHC 1080 (QB)
Court: Queen's Bench Division
Judge:

Judge Seymour QC sitting as a judge of the High Court
Representation Simon Colton (instructed by Izod Evans) for the claimant.
  Louise Chudleigh (instructed by Irvine and Partners) for the defendant.
Judgment Dates: 21 May 2008

Catchwords

Restraint of trade by agreement - Employer and employee - Period of restraint - Contract of employment containing post termination restrictive covenants - Defendant terminating employment with claimant and signing leaving contract - Defendant taking up employment with principal United Kingdom-based competitor - Claimant seeking injunction requiring defendant to comply with various restrictive terms contained in contracts - Whether injunction should be granted

The Case

An application for an injunction requiring the defendant employee to comply with various post termination restrictive covenants contained in his contract of employment, and in a subsequent leaving contract, was dismissed. The leaving contract was not valid and binding in law, as the only consideration passing from the claimant company, which could be said to support the leaving contract, was a promise to perform the covenants in the existing contract of employment. Further, those covenants were too wide to be enforceable by reason of the fact that neither was limited to preventing the defendant having contact with customers with whom he personally had had dealings.

Practice Areas

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