74 Pa. Super. 518 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1920
Opinion by
The defendant Ireland was engaged in the coal, ice, general hauling and contractors’ supply business in the Borough of Aspinwall. He entered into an agreement with the plaintiff for the sale of the equipment incident to the business together with the good will. The contract provided that the defendant and his wife should not for a period of five years, engage in such business within the borough. In violation of his agreement the
The first question raised is whether the proceedings .were regular. It is argued that under Equity Rule 60, the office of master in chancery is abolished, and that the appointment of a master is prohibited except in proceedings where decrees or interlocutory orders are to be executed or their execution supervised by an officer of the court, as in partition, the sale of real estate, the execution of deeds and the like. It may be noted here that there was a definite decree supported by findings of fact and conclusions of law that t'he plaintiff was entitled to relief and that the defendant was enjoined during the period covered by the contract from engaging in business in said borough. The master’s duty was confined to one single thing and that was, to state an account between the parties of all transactions involved in violation of the contract. It is true he did not formally set out an account but he found the sum due from the defendant to the plaintiff and the items embraced in its ascertainment. They were but two.
We repeat what was said by our Brother Head in Gibson Distilling Co. v. Netter, 62 Pa. Superior Ct. 136, “the decree having not only restrained the defendant from the further prosecution of his illegal business, but directed an accounting of the profits that accrued to the defend
The next objection is that there was not sufficient evidence to support the final decree. A decree was entered for the sum of eleven hundred and twenty dollars. From this amount eight hundred and seventy dollars' arises from a transaction known as the M. O’Herron Company contract which the defendant entered into in violation of his covenant and for which he received the sum of twenty-nine hundred dollars. If the plaintiff had had the work he would have made eight hundred seventy dollars. We all think there was sufficient testimony to support the finding of this amount as due to the plaintiff.
The master finds that “In addition to the loss by reason of the O’Herron contract, there is testimony undisputed, which, in the opinion of the master, sufficiently shows that the good will of plaintiff’s business suffered through the action of defendant in breach of his contract, and that although specific cases and figures were not submitted, nevertheless the plaintiff sustained actual loss through other acts of defendant than the one complained of in the O’Herron Company matter. The whole course of conduct of defendant as it appears from the testimony evidenced a deliberate intent to violate the spirit of his agreement and to secure for himself gain through carrying on transactions in the manner of a third party and by openly inviting persons to deal with him in business in and about the borough of Aspinwall. The master is therefore of the opinion that a substantial
We therefore think that the court erred in its findings as to the amount of damages suffered by the plaintiff. As there are but two items entering into the judgment, the matter can be easily corrected by a modification of the decree. The decree is modified to the extent that the defendant, W. E. Ireland, pay to the plaintiff, George C. Hughes, the sum of eight hundred seventy dollars with interest, etc., instead of eleven hundred and twenty dollars, in all other respects to remain.
The costs of this appeal to be paid by the appellant.