291 Mass. 403 | Mass. | 1935
This is an appeal by the defendant from a final decree entered on March 12, 1935, enjoining the defendant from engaging directly or indirectly in the ice business within the cities of Cambridge and Somerville, for the period of eighteen months from the date of the entry of the decree. The testimony is reported under Rule 76 of the Superior Court (1932) without findings of fact.
The defendant and one Booas until 1926 conducted an ice business in Somerville and Cambridge in this Commonwealth, under the name “Daylight Ice Company.” In 1926 they entered into an agreement with the plaintiff, under seal. By this agreement the defendant and Booas sold to the plaintiff their ice business, and agreed “to use
The defendant admits that he “had been employed by another dealer in the ice business, in substantially the same territory where he had worked for the plaintiff,” but contends that the bill should have been dismissed for the reason that, the decree necessarily indicates that the trial judge found the covenants unreasonable and unnecessary for the plaintiff’s protection as to time and territory. It is settled in this Commonwealth that an agreement made by the seller of a business in connection with the sale thereof, which is designed to prevent the seller from competing in that business with the buyer, is valid, provided the restraint is reasonably necessary to enable the buyer to secure fully the good will of his purchase. Gilman v. Dwight, 13 Gray, 356, 358. Anchor Electric Co. v. Hawkes, 171 Mass. 101, 105. Edgecomb v. Edmonston, 257 Mass. 12, 18. Similar agreements made by employees with their employers to become
Decree affirmed with costs.