DeSantis v. Wackenhut Corp.

793 S.W.2d 670, 33 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 517, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 739, 1990 Tex. LEXIS 81, 1990 WL 77586
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJune 6, 1990
DocketC-6617
StatusPublished
Cited by735 cases

This text of 793 S.W.2d 670 (DeSantis v. Wackenhut Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DeSantis v. Wackenhut Corp., 793 S.W.2d 670, 33 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 517, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 739, 1990 Tex. LEXIS 81, 1990 WL 77586 (Tex. 1990).

Opinions

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

HECHT, Justice.

On motions for rehearing, our opinion and judgment of July 13, 1988, are withdrawn, and the following is now the opinion of the Court.

This case involving a noncompetition agreement between an employer and employee presents three principal issues: first, whether the law of the state chosen by the parties to govern their agreement should be applied; second, whether the noncompetition agreement is enforceable; third, if the agreement is not enforceable, whether damages for its attempted enforcement are recoverable under the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act of 1983 or for wrongful injunction, fraud, or tor-tious interference with contract.

The trial court applied the law of the state of Florida, chosen by the parties to govern the noncompetition agreement, to hold the agreement valid but overly broad [675]*675as to the geographical territory in which competition was restricted. Based upon a jury finding that the employee breached the agreement, the trial court enjoined any further violation of the agreement within a smaller territory, and denied the employee’s claims for damages. The court of appeals affirmed. 732 S.W.2d 29. We hold that Texas law, not Florida law, applies in this case, and that under Texas law, the noncompetition agreement is unenforceable. We further hold that the employee is not entitled to recover damages for his employer’s wrongfully obtaining an injunction against him, and that the employee has failed to show fraud, tortious interference, or a violation of the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act entitling him to damages. We accordingly reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and render judgment in accordance with this opinion.

I

A

Edward DeSantis has been providing international and corporate security services, both in the CIA and the private sector for his entire career. In June 1981, while employed by R.J. Reynolds Industries in North Carolina, DeSantis interviewed for a position with Wackenhut Corporation. At that time, Wackenhut, which was chartered and headquartered in Florida, was the third largest company in the nation specializing in furnishing security guards for businesses throughout the country. DeSantis met with Wackenhut’s president, founder, and majority stockholder, George Wackenhut, at the company’s offices in Florida, and the two agreed that DeSantis would immediately assume the position of Wackenhut’s Houston area manager. According to De-Santis, George Wackenhut promised him that the area manager’s position was only temporary, and that he would soon be moved into a top executive position. George Wackenhut denies that he made any such promises to DeSantis, admitting only that he mentioned advancement to an executive position as a possible opportunity.

At Wackenhut’s request, DeSantis signed a noncompetition agreement at the inception of his employment. The agreement recites that it was “made and entered into” on August 13, 1981, in Florida, although DeSantis signed it in Texas. It also recites consideration “including but not limited to the Employee’s employment by the Employer”. In the agreement DeSantis covenanted that as long as he was employed by Wackenhut and for two years thereafter, he would not compete in any way with Wackenhut in a forty-county area in south Texas. DeSantis expressly acknowledged that Wackenhut’s client list “is a valuable, special and unique asset of [Wackenhut’s] business” and agreed never to disclose it to anyone. DeSantis also agreed never to divulge any confidential or proprietary information acquired through his employment with Wackenhut. Finally, DeSantis and Wackenhut agreed “that any questions concerning interpretation or enforcement of this contract shall be governed by Florida law.”

DeSantis remained manager of Wacken-hut’s Houston office for nearly three years, until March 1984, when he resigned under threat of termination. DeSantis contends that he was forced to quit because of disagreements with Wackehut’s senior management over the profitability of the Houston office. Wackenhut contends that DeSantis was asked to resign because of his unethical solicitation of business.

Following his resignation, DeSantis invested in a company which marketed security electronics. He also formed a new company, Risk Deterrence, Inc. (“RDI”), to provide security consulting services and security guards to a limited clientele. The month following termination of his employment with Wackenhut, DeSantis sent out letters announcing his new ventures to twenty or thirty businesses, about half of which were Wackenhut clients. He added a postscript to letters to Wackenhut clients in which he disclaimed any intent to interfere with their existing contracts with Wackenhut. Within six months, however, one of Wackenhut’s clients, Marathon Oil Company, had terminated its contract with Wackenhut and signed a five-year contract [676]*676with RDI, and a second Wackenhut client, TRW-Mission Drilling Products, was considering doing the same. Wackenhut claims that DeSantis was acquiring its clients in violation of the noncompetition agreement. DeSantis claims that these clients began considering other security service providers only after the quality of Wackenhut’s services declined, following DeSantis’ departure.

B

Wackenhut sued DeSantis and RDI in October 1984 to enjoin them from violating the noncompetition agreement, and to recover damages for breach of the agreement and for tortious interference with business relations. Wackenhut alleged that DeSantis and RDI were soliciting its clients’ business using confidential client and pricing information which DeSantis obtained through his employment with Wack-enhut. The trial court issued an ex parte temporary restraining order against De-Santis and RDI, and fixed the amount of the requisite bond which Wackenhut filed at $5,000. Following a hearing, the trial court issued a temporary injunction upon a $75,000 bond, which Wackenhut also filed. DeSantis and RDI counterclaimed against Wackenhut, alleging that Wackenhut had fraudulently induced DeSantis to sign the noncompetition agreement, that the agreement violated state antitrust laws, and that enforcement of the agreement by temporary injunction was wrongful and tortiously interfered with DeSantis and RDI’s contract and business relationships. RDI claimed damages for loss of the Marathon contract, which Marathon terminated after the injunction issued, for loss of the TRW business, and for injury to its reputation. DeSantis claimed damages for lost salary, impaired reputation, and mental anguish. DeSantis and RDI both sought statutory damages under the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act, Texas Business and Commerce Code Annotated sections 15.01-15.51 (Vernon 1987 and Supp.1990), and exemplary damages.

The trial court granted Wackenhut’s motion for summary judgment on DeSantis and RDI’s claim for tortious interference, and directed a verdict against them on their fraud claim. At trial, Wackenhut withdrew its tortious interference claim. A jury found that DeSantis breached the noncom-petition agreement by competing with Wackenhut, but failed to find that Wacken-hut would be irreparably harmed if DeSan-tis were not prohibited from further breaching the agreement.1 The jury also failed to find that Wackenhut had ever been unfair, unjust, misleading or deceptive to DeSantis so as to cause him any injury.

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793 S.W.2d 670, 33 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 517, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 739, 1990 Tex. LEXIS 81, 1990 WL 77586, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/desantis-v-wackenhut-corp-tex-1990.