Invidia, LLC v. DiFonzo

30 Mass. L. Rptr. 390
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedOctober 22, 2012
DocketNo. MICV20123798H
StatusPublished

This text of 30 Mass. L. Rptr. 390 (Invidia, LLC v. DiFonzo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Invidia, LLC v. DiFonzo, 30 Mass. L. Rptr. 390 (Mass. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Wilson, Paul D., J.

Plaintiff Invidia, LLC employed defendant DiFonzo as a hair stylist between April 2010 and August 2012, when she resigned and went to work, albeit briefly, for a hair salon 1.6 miles away. When she began her employment with Invidia, Ms. DiFonzo signed a Covenant Not to Compete, Non-Solicitation, and Confidentiality Agreement (the “Agreement”). In this lawsuit, Invidia alleges that Ms. DiFonzo violated that agreement when she went to work for the other salon, and, although that salon terminated Ms. DiFonzo after receiving a demand letter from Invidia, Invidia alleges that she may still be competing with Invidia in violation of the Agreement. Invidia further contends that Ms. DiFonzo is violating the non-solicitation provision of that Agreement, and is using confidential information in violation of the Agreement as well. Invidia seeks a preliminaiy injunction that, among other things, would prohibit Ms. DiFonzo from styling hair within ten miles of Invidia for two years, as set forth in the Agreement, and would order Ms. DiFonzo not to solicit Invidia clients and to surrender all confidential information of Invidia that she currently possesses.

I have reviewed materials submitted by both parties, which include, from Invidia’s side, a Verified Complaint and three affidavits of Invidia’s majority owner Phillip Patzleiner, and, from Ms. DiFonzo’s side, Ms. DiFonzo’s affidavit and an affidavit of David Pompey, the owner of David Paul Salons, Inc., the salon that briefly employed Ms. DiFonzo. In addition, I held a hearing on the preliminary injunction request, at which both parties were represented by counsel. I find that Invidia has not established the degree of likelihood of success on the merits nor the irreparable harm required for issuance of a preliminary injunction.

BACKGROUND

Ms. DiFonzo says she began work at Invidia on April 26, 2010. DiFonzo Aff. ¶2. The next day, she says, she was asked to sign the Agreement along with other documents, including a W-4 tax form, id., ¶3. The date on the Agreement is actually April 24, two days before Ms. DiFonzo started work.

The non-competition provision of this Agreement states the following:

EMPLOYEE agrees that for a period of two (2) years from last date that EMPLOYEE provides the Services [defined elsewhere as “salon services”] to INVIDIA, EMPLOYEE shall not compete with INVIDIA directly or indirectly by providing substantially the same SERVICES, or by owning, operating, consulting to, being employed by, or otherwise providing the Services to any other persons, entity or company operating in a commercial hairdressing, nail and facial salon for profit and whose business is within ten (10) mile radius of INVIDIA’S Business.

Agreement, Exhibit A to Verified Complaint, ¶ 1. In the remainder of the non-competition provision, Ms. DiFonzo acknowledges the existence of many salons outside the ten-mile radius, and agrees that the covenant not to compete would not unreasonably interfere with her livelihood.

The non-solicitation provision of the Agreement reads, in relevant part, as follows:

Nor, for the same two-year period shall EMPLOYEE solicit any of INVIDIA’S clients or customers with the intention of providing the Services or substantially similar services to such clients or customers.

Id., ¶2.

Finally, the confidentiality provision of the Agreement provides a laundry list of “INVIDIA’S valuable trade secrets,” including “customer lists, accounts . . .” Ms. DiFonzo agrees in that provision “not to disclose, discuss, publish, disseminate, or otherwise make known to any other third person any of INVIDIA’s valuable trade secrets at any time without the express written permission of INVIDIA.” Id., ¶3.

On or about August 18, 2012 Ms. DiFonzo telephoned Mr. Patzleiner to announce that she was resigning her position at Invidia. Patzleiner Aff. ¶12. By the time she resigned from Invidia, Ms. DiFonzo says, she had long since forgotten that she had signed the Agreement, which she had not understood in the first [392]*392place. Id., ¶3. She also has said under oath that she did not take any Invidia customer lists or other confidential information, and has not solicited a single Invidia customer. Id., ¶6. She does not dispute Mr. Patzleiner’s statement that David Paul Salons, where she accepted employment, is located in Sudbury, the same town as Invidia, about 1.6 miles away on the same street. Patzleiner Aff. ¶19.

When Invidia learned, almost immediately, that Ms. DiFonzo was going to work at David Paul Salons, it had its attorney send letters to both Ms. DiFonzo and David Paul Salons, expressing its intention to enforce the Agreement. See Exhibits B, C, and D to the Verified Complaint. Ms. DiFonzo’s employment at David Paul Salons lasted from August 20, 2012 to September 1, 2012. Pompey Aff. ¶¶4, 6. Ms. DiFonzo believes that David Paul Salons “fired” her on September 1, see DiFonzo Aff. ¶7, although Mr. Pompey, the owner of David Paul Salons, says that he told Ms. DiFonzo “to take time off from David Paul and return if she could get things straightened out with Mr. Patzleiner” of Invidia. Pompey Aff. ¶6. Mr. Pompey says that he took this action “solely [because of] the threats I received from Mr. Patzleiner” of Invidia, after a discussion with Mr. Patzleiner in which Mr. Patzleiner said that “he did not care” whether Ms. DiFonzo would solicit Invidia’s customers, but rather “he ‘needed to send a message’ to his other employees.” Pompey Aff. 16.

DISCUSSION

“A party seeking a preliminary injunction must show that (1) success is likely on the merits; (2) irreparable harm will result from denial of the injunction; and (3) the risk of irreparable harm to the moving party outweighs any similar risk of harm to the opposing party.” Cote-Whitacre v. Department of Pub. Health, 446 Mass. 350, 357 (2006) (Spina, J., concurring), citing Packaging Indus. Group, Inc. v. Cheney, 380 Mass. 609, 616-17 (1980). Here, to warrant issuance of a preliminary injunction against Ms. DiFonzo, Invidia must show, first, a likelihood that it will prevail at trial in showing that the non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions in the Agreement are enforceable and that Ms. DiFonzo has violated those provisions, and second, that in the absence of an injunction, Invidia will suffer harm sufficiently severe and irreparable to outweigh the harm that an injunction will impose on Ms. DiFonzo.

In performing this analysis, courts are mindful that “[c]ovenants not to compete are valid if they are reasonable in light of the facts in each case.” Boulanger v. Dunkin’ Donuts, Inc., 442 Mass. 635, 639 (2004), citing Marine Contrs. Co., 365 Mass. at 287, and Saltman v. Smith, 313 Mass. 135, 145 (1943). Non-competition agreements “are scrutinized with particular care because they are often the product of unequal bargaining power and because the employee is likely to give scant attention to the hardship he may later suffer through the loss of his livelihood.” Sentry Ins. v. Firnstein, 14 Mass.App.Ct. 706, 707 (1982).

1. The Non-Competition Provision

Invidia is likely to succeed in its claim that Ms. DiFonzo breached the non-competition provision of the Agreement during the week or so that she was employed by David Paul Salons, which is located well within the geographically-forbidden 10 miles of Invidia’s location. The affidavit of Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
30 Mass. L. Rptr. 390, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/invidia-llc-v-difonzo-masssuperct-2012.