Dixie Parking Service, Inc. v. Hargrove

691 So. 2d 1316, 96 La.App. 4 Cir. 1929, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 610, 1997 WL 141706
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 26, 1997
Docket96-CA-1929
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 691 So. 2d 1316 (Dixie Parking Service, Inc. v. Hargrove) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dixie Parking Service, Inc. v. Hargrove, 691 So. 2d 1316, 96 La.App. 4 Cir. 1929, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 610, 1997 WL 141706 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

691 So.2d 1316 (1997)

DIXIE PARKING SERVICE, INC.
v.
Amy HARGROVE.

No. 96-CA-1929.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

March 26, 1997.

*1317 John V. Baus, Jr., David S. Daly, Hammett & Baus, New Orleans, for Plaintiff/Appellee.

William M. McGoey, Reinhardt & McGoey, Metairie, for Defendant/Appellant.

Before CIACCIO, JONES and WALTZER, JJ.

WALTZER, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Dixie Parking Service, Inc. (Dixie) filed suit against its former employee, Amy Hargrove seeking to enforce provisions of a noncompetitive agreement entered into by Hargrove. On 17 January 1996, the trial court granted a preliminary injunction enforcing the contract. Following a full hearing on 26 February 1996 at which testimony was taken, the trial court granted a permanent injunction on 20 March 1996 prohibiting Hargrove from engaging in or being employed by Southern Parking Systems, or any other automobile parking and parking management business located within the Louisiana parishes of Orleans and Jefferson, for a period of two years from 28 August 1995, the date of Hargrove's resignation from Dixie; soliciting or contacting Dixie clients for a like period, and divulging to any person at any time any financial or proprietary information, or trade secrets gained from her employment with Dixie. Hargrove appeals that judgment, and we affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Hargrove first began working for Dixie as a cashier in 1984. She was promoted successively to attendant, flat lot supervisor and zone manager/facility manager. Hargrove testified that during the six years that she was a Dixie manager, she received instruction and training in Dixie's parking procedures, their management philosophies and techniques. In late 1992, Dixie began to initiate changes in its business procedures designed to increase efficiency and profitability and to increase the income of its managers and employees through an incentive profit-sharing bonus program. According to the testimony of Hargrove and James Huger, Dixie's president, under this program Dixie provided to its managers certain critical, confidential financial information. Huger testified that this information included revenue, payroll, expenses and rents relating to the operations they managed. Revenue information included daily and monthly parking receipts and budget figures. Because of the highly competitive nature of the parking business, with many locations operating on short-term leases, a competitor's knowledge of rental agreements enables the competitor to offer minimally higher rent to the landlord to obtain favorable locations. Hargrove admitted that she had access to this financial information for over half of Dixie's properties.

Huger testified that the dissemination of the critical information to his employees subjected the company to competitive disadvantage were the employees to resign and go to work for Dixie's competitors, and, in order to mitigate that threat, he was advised to make non-competitive agreements an integral part of the incentive profit-sharing bonus program. In November, 1992, all managers as well as other Dixie employees who had access to financial information were required to sign agreements limiting competition in order *1318 to protect the business against unfair competition arising from the managers' potential use of Dixie's sensitive, proprietary information. The agreement was explained to the employees and, according to uncontroverted testimony by Huger and confirmed by employee Jerrald Pierre, employees were advised that they could take the agreement to their attorneys and bring it back within a few days for signature.

On 26 November 1992, Hargrove signed a contract entitled "Non-Competition Agreement" in which she acknowledged that the services she would render to Dixie were of a special and unusual character with a unique value to Dixie, the loss of which cannot be compensated adequately by damages in a legal action. As a material inducement to Dixie to continue to employ Hargrove, she agreed, inter alia, neither directly or indirectly to own, manage, operate, control, be employed by or participate in the ownership, management, operation or control of, or be connected in any way with any automobile parking and parking management business of the type and character engaged in and competitive with that conducted by Dixie. The covenant not to compete was limited to a two year period beginning with Hargrove's termination of employment with Dixie and continuing for two years. The covenant was further limited to the Louisiana parishes set forth in a schedule attached to the Non-Competition Agreement, and within any parishes in which Dixie conducted business at the time of Hargrove's termination. In the agreement, Hargrove acknowledged the reasonableness of the provisions, and agreed that the provisions of the agreement are severable, and that the invalidity or unenforceability of any one or more of the provisions shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions. Hargrove further agreed that Dixie's breach of any obligation owed her would not affect the validity or enforceability of the agreement. The Exhibit listed Orleans, Jefferson and nine other Louisiana parishes; however, Huger testified that Dixie did not implement its plan to operate in the nine other parishes, and Dixie sought to limit Hargrove's competitive employment only in Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

Hargrove admitted that she signed the agreement in order to gain access to confidential information that would enable her to earn substantial bonuses as a Dixie employee. In fact, Hargrove earned substantial bonuses through the remainder of her career with Dixie.

In 1993, Hargrove was promoted in the managerial hierarchy to the position of facility manager. In February, 1995, Dixie instituted a company-wide reorganization whereby an additional level of management was installed. Three new zone managers were hired, and Hargrove and the other zone managers received new titles as shift managers. Their base salaries remained the same and they were still eligible for the profit-sharing bonus program, but they lost their health care benefits. Hargrove testified that her bonuses decreased under the new plan, but admitted that she was offered two promotions during that time which would have raised her salary, but she refused because she did not want the added responsibilities associated with the promotions. Huger testified that he offered Hargrove these opportunities to increase her compensation when he learned she was dissatisfied with the reorganization. Hargrove admitted that in her new position she retained access to Dixie's revenue and payroll information. Huger testified that in her new position Hargrove had the same access to information and was doing the same job as before, but now reported to a different person. Hargrove resigned without any prior notice on August 25, 1996, and immediately went to work as a zone manager for Southern Parking, who, Hargrove admitted, was Dixie's direct competitor.

Hargrove admitted that Southern solicited her to come to work for them. She testified that she applied for her position with Southern in September, 1995, after she resigned from Dixie on 28 August 1995, and denied that she applied before having resigned. Her application for employment, however, clearly shows that she applied on 15 August, two weeks prior to her resignation. She admitted that she knew she had a job at Southern before she applied. She testified that she began work on 6 or 7 September 1995; however, in her application for unemployment *1319

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Bluebook (online)
691 So. 2d 1316, 96 La.App. 4 Cir. 1929, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 610, 1997 WL 141706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dixie-parking-service-inc-v-hargrove-lactapp-1997.