Business Law 13th Edition by Frank Cross, Kenneth Clarkson, Roger LeRoy Miller

Exercise 9

A Question of Ethics: Covenants Not to Compete. Brendan Coleman created and marketed Clinex, a software billing program. Later, Retina Consultants, P.C., a medical practice, hired Coleman as a software engineer. Together, they modified the Clinex program to create Clinex-RE. Coleman signed an agreement to the effect that he owned Clinex, Retina owned Clinex-RE, and he would not market Clinex in competition with Clinex-RE. After Coleman quit Retina, he withdrew funds from a Retina bank account and marketed both forms of the software to other medical practices. At trial, the court entered a judgment enjoining (preventing) Coleman from marketing the software that was in competition with the software he had developed for Retina Consultants. The court also obligated Coleman to return the funds taken from the company's bank account. Coleman appealed. [Coleman v. Retina Consultants, P.C., 286 Ga. 317, 687 S.E.2d 457 (2009)] (See page 279.)
(a) Should the court uphold the noncompete clause? If so, why? If not, why not?
(b) Should the court require Coleman to return the funds he withdrew from the company's accounts? Discuss fully.
(c) Did Coleman's behavior after he left the company influence the court's decision? Explain your answer.