Brown v. Rollet Bros. Trucking Co., Inc.

291 S.W.3d 766, 2009 Mo. App. LEXIS 848, 2009 WL 1660183
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 16, 2009
DocketED 91533
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 291 S.W.3d 766 (Brown v. Rollet Bros. Trucking Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Rollet Bros. Trucking Co., Inc., 291 S.W.3d 766, 2009 Mo. App. LEXIS 848, 2009 WL 1660183 (Mo. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

KATHIANNE KNAUP CRANE, Presiding Judge.

Defendants appeal from a declaratory judgment in favor of their former employee declaring that defendants were not entitled to enforce the parties’ Non-Compete and Confidentiality Agreement (the Agreement) against plaintiff. On appeal, defendants contend that the trial court erred in concluding the Agreement was unenforceable against plaintiff because they had a protectable interest in their customer contacts and confidential information. We modify the judgment by eliminating cer *771 tain findings of fact and conclusions of law as surplusage. We affirm as modified.

Defendants, Rollet Bros. Trucking Company, Inc., R.B.T., Inc., E & R Lime Co., and Rollet Bros. Logistics, Inc., consist of four affiliate companies generally involved in the commodities market. One of the defendants, Rollet Bros. Logistics, Inc., is a freight broker that arranges for the hauling of commodities for customers from one point to another. Plaintiff, Russel S. Brown, began employment as a dispatcher for one or more of the defendants in January 1999. 1 As a dispatcher, plaintiff was responsible for finding loads for trucks to haul by contacting established and prospective customers on a daily basis. He was also responsible for finding trucks that were available to haul a customer’s load.

On May 2, 2002, plaintiff and representatives of each defendant signed the Agreement as a condition of continued employment. The Agreement contained the following covenant not to compete:

2. [Plaintiff] agrees that, for [three years after the date of cessation of employment with defendants], [plaintiff] will not directly or indirectly or in concert with any person or persons, firm, corporation, or other entity, or in any manner, solicit, divert or handle or attempt to solicit, divert or handle any of the past or present customers of [defendants], regardless of where such customers might be located with respect to any business that consists of, pertains to, or relates in any way to the business conducted by [defendants].

The Agreement also contained a confidentiality clause.

In August 2005, plaintiff submitted his resignation to defendants. In September 2005, he began working as a dispatcher for Elizabeth Commodities & Logistics, Inc. (ECO Logistics), a newly-formed freight brokerage company similar to Rollet Bros. Logistics, Inc. The owners of ECO Logistics also owned Elizabeth Transportation, LLC, a trucking company. In November 2005, an attorney for one of the defendants sent a letter to plaintiff and to Elizabeth Transportation, claiming that plaintiff had violated the Agreement and threatening legal action if the violation continued. To avoid the risk of a lawsuit, ECO Logistics terminated plaintiff.

Plaintiff subsequently filed a lawsuit against defendants. In the first count he requested a declaratory judgment that the Agreement was not enforceable against him, or if enforceable, that he had not violated it. In the second count he sought damages for defendants’ alleged tortious interference with plaintiffs employment contract with ECO Logistics. Defendants filed a counterclaim seeking damages for breach of the Agreement and for tortious interference with a different contract and with a business expectancy defendants had with Elizabeth Transportation.

The case proceeded to a bench trial that was limited to plaintiffs declaratory judgment count. Defendants made a pretrial request for findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court entered judgment in plaintiffs favor. As relevant to this appeal, it included the following in its findings of fact:

■ 8. Throughout Plaintiffs employment with Defendants, Plaintiff acted as a dispatcher. In this capacity, he had regular contact with Defendants’ customers and prospective customers as part of his job. He regularly spoke with prospective customers and prospective *772 customers as part of his job. He regularly spoke with prospective customers about hauling their commodities.
9. Defendants did not really have legitimate and protectable interests in its customer list, as the customer list basically served as a “phone book” for the business.
10. Throughout Plaintiffs employment with Defendants, Defendants set all rates quoted to customers or potential customers.
11. Plaintiff had no authority to set rates quoted to customers or potential customers.
12. Plaintiff had no authority to deviate from the rates established by Defendants.
13. Plaintiff was never involved in setting rates quoted to customers or potential customers.
14. Defendants provided Plaintiff with a list of rates to quote to customers or potential customers.
15. Whenever a customer or potential customer asked Plaintiff to deviate from the rates set by Defendants, Plaintiff was required by Defendants to obtain permission from Defendants to deviate from said rates.
16. The rates charged by one or more Defendants were general enough and available to anyone that might bother to look for it. There was no secret formula involved here which might have a protectable interest.
17. Defendants did not really have legitimate interests in the confidentiality of its price, rates and surcharges and other business planning information, as the information contained was general enough and available to anyone that might bother to look for it. There was no secret formula involved here which might have a protectable interest.

The trial court also entered the following as its conclusions of law:

18. Plaintiffs employment with one or more Defendants is not the proper subject of a valid and enforceable non-compete agreement.
19. The Non-Compete and Confidentiality Agreement (Plaintiffs Exhibit 1) is void ab initio as to Plaintiff and all Defendants.
20. The Non-Compete and Confidentiality Agreement (Plaintiffs Exhibit 1) is not enforceable by any Defendant against Plaintiff.

It denominated its ruling a final judgment under Rule 74.01(b) and found there was no just reason for delay of the appeal.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

We will sustain the judgment of the trial court in a court-tried case unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law. Board Educ. St. Louis v. Missouri Bd. Educ., 271 S.W.3d 1, 7 (Mo. banc 2008); Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo.1976). If the facts of a case are contested, we defer to the trial court’s factual determinations. Board Educ. St. Louis, 271 S.W.3d at 7.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
291 S.W.3d 766, 2009 Mo. App. LEXIS 848, 2009 WL 1660183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-rollet-bros-trucking-co-inc-moctapp-2009.