Coiffure Continental, Inc. v. Allert

518 S.W.2d 942, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 2326
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 23, 1975
Docket18510
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 518 S.W.2d 942 (Coiffure Continental, Inc. v. Allert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coiffure Continental, Inc. v. Allert, 518 S.W.2d 942, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 2326 (Tex. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

CLAUDE WILLIAMS, Chief Justice.

Coiffure Continental, Inc. brought this action in the district court seeking to enjoin Hans Allert from violating a covenant against competition contained in an employment contract between the parties. The trial court denied the relief sought and this appeal followed. We find that the trial court erred in refusing to grant temporary injunction and, therefore, reverse the judgment.

At all times relevant to this case, Coiffure Continental, Inc. operated three places of business in Richardson and Dallas engaging in hairdressing for women. One of its shops is located at 210 Northpark in Dallas, where it employed approximately fifteen hairdressers. Gunther Sperling is president and general manager of the corporation. On November 1, 1963, following negotiations, the corporation entered into a written employment contract with Hans Allert, then a resident of Germany, in which Allert agreed to be employed by Coiffure Continental, Inc. as a hairdresser. The contract contained the following provision :

EMPLOYEE further agrees that he will not individually nor with any other person working or not working for said firm, for a period of TEN (10) MONTH immediately following his resignation as an EMPLOYEE for said firm for any reason or disagreement whatsoever open-work-or assist in any beauty salon within the radius of TEN (10) miles from any beauty salon in which EMPLOYEE had worked longer than (2) months, and such beauty salon is owned by COIFFURE DE CONTINENTAL INC. or COIFFURE D’ EUROPE.

The contract also provided a guaranteed minimum of $400 per month and a 50% commission of all gross proceeds in excess of $800 produced as a result of Allert’s services.

Allert came to the United States and started his employment for the corporation *944 pursuant to such contract in February-1964, and was assigned to the Northpark salon. He continued this employment without interruption for more than ten years. On August 18 or 19, 1974, the employment relationship was severed and Al-lert admits that he then entered into a competitive hairdressing business within the ten-mile radius designated in the contract. This action was then instituted by the corporation to restrain Allert from violating the noncompetitive agreement.

In defense of the action, Allert took the position that the 1963 contract of employment had been revoked by a subsequent agreement made between the parties in 1967. We hold that the subsequent agreement did not revoke the original contract.

On January 1, 1967, Allert and the corporation entered into a written agreement in which the corporation agreed to pay Al-lert a bonus of $80 for completing three full years of working for the company, ending February 28, 1967, and thereafter agreed to pay Allert a “five percent additional commission from income received through services performed by employee.” As originally drawn, this agreement provided that the first $1,000 of said bonus and commission should be a “guarantee deposit” held by employer and released only to employee upon compliance with the following agreements: “(1) To give a written notice when resigning of at least four months, before leaving present employment; (2) To comply and agree with all articles signed in employment contract; and (3) Not to take away any employees working for Coiffure Continental for at least nine months after resigning.” The second provision above quoted was deleted prior to execution of this agreement.

On the trial of the case Allert testified that he had specifically requested that the second provision of the agreement be deleted, saying:

I asked him for to strike it out because I wanted to be completely out of that contract and we want to make a new contract and that’s what he promised me.

By this testimony, appellee Allert contends that the entire 1964 contract was revoked by mutual agreement and that the 1967 agreement is related to the older agreement only with reference to the basis for compensation. Accepting the testimony of Allert, as the trial judge must have, this places the dealings between the parties in the following context: (1) They have an operative legal relationship under the 1964 agreement; (2) Allert becomes dissatisfied; (3) The corporation and Allert agreed to terminate the 1964 contract and increase defendant’s compensation; and (4) The parties execute the 1967 agreement. The question thereby presented is whether all prior and contemporaneous oral agreements are considered merged into the 1967 agreement. If so, this would have the effect of excluding Allert’s testimony that the corporation orally agreed to terminate the 1964 contract inasmuch as there is no reference or inference in the 1967 instrument concerning such termination. We conclude that this parol testimony was not admissible.

In resolving the question, we find the rule with respect to the proof and enforcement of collateral agreements to have been stated by Justice Calvert in Hubacek v. Ennis State Bank, 159 Tex. 166, 317 S.W.2d 30, 33-34 (1958). Speaking for the Supreme Court, he followed the rule, as found in Restatement of Contracts § 240 (1932):

(1) An oral agreement is not superseded or invalidated by a subsequent or contemporaneous integration, nor a written agreement by a subsequent integration relating to the same subject-matter, if the agreement is not inconsistent with the integrated contract, and
(a) is made for separate consideration, or
(b) is such an agreement as might naturally be made as a separate *945 agreement by parties situated as were the parties to the written contract.

Assuming that the alleged oral revocation of the 1964 contract is consistent with the 1967 instrument, such oral agreement clearly does not fall within subsection (a) of the above-stated rule because no additional consideration beyond retention of Allert’s services was provided for the revocation agreement. Accordingly, we must consider if the oral agreement “might naturally be made as a separate agreement by parties situated as were the parties to the written contract.’’ We think not. As Hubacek notes, “[I]t is more than normally natural that agreements will be made collaterally to the execution of negotiable instruments because to include them would destroy negotiability.” There is no such reason for omission of the agreement in this instance. Allert testified that he wanted completely out of the 1964 contract when he executed the 1967 agreement. From the beginning, he had worked under a written contract. It does not seem “natural” to us that when they signed the subsequent agreement, which provided additional compensation, the parties would make an oral agreement revoking the former agreement without mentioning such revoking agreement and would leave all the terms of the employment, other than those concerning the additional compensation, to rest on the oral understanding. It is extremely doubtful that Allert would revoke that contract and execute the 1967 agreement providing for an additional five percent commission, without mentioning the fifty percent commission which produced the major portion of his income for the majority of the ten years he was employed by the corporation.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Tisdale v. State
843 S.W.2d 803 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1992)
Gillen v. Diadrill, Inc.
624 S.W.2d 259 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1981)
Sumlin v. State
617 S.W.2d 372 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1981)
Custom Drapery Co., Inc. v. Hardwick
531 S.W.2d 160 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1975)
Coiffure Continental, Inc. v. Allert
521 S.W.2d 665 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
518 S.W.2d 942, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 2326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coiffure-continental-inc-v-allert-texapp-1975.