759 N.Y.S.2d 388 | N.Y. App. Div. | 2003
—In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for breach of contract, the plaintiff appeals, as limited by its brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Cohalan, J.), dated June 6, 2002, as granted the defendant’s cross motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.
Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs, and the defendant’s counterclaim is severed.
The defendant is a former employee of the plaintiff. In this action, the plaintiff seeks, inter alia, to recover damages for the defendant’s alleged violation of a restrictive covenant the defendant signed while still in the plaintiffs employ.
Restrictive covenants in the employment context are carefully scrutinized, and are disfavored since there are “powerful considerations of public policy which militate against sanctioning the loss” of a person’s livelihood (Columbia Ribbon & Carbon Mfg. Co. v A-1-A Corp., 42 NY2d 496, 499 [1977] [citation and internal quotation marks omitted]; see Reed, Roberts Assoc. v Strauman, 40 NY2d 303, 307 [1976]).
The plaintiff’s remaining contentions either are unnecessary to consider in light of our determination, or without merit. Florio, J.P., H. Miller, Adams and Rivera, JJ., concur.