Question

Johns Manville, a fiber glass production company, sent out an email on January 4th requesting that all employees not go to work for acompeting fiberglass producer. Recently, several start-ups had begun to challenge Johns Manville’s dominance in the fiber glass industry.However, after receiving a good job offer from a competing fiber glass producer, Glassfiber Inc., Bill decided to quit his job at Johns Manville towork for Glassfiber. Bill had read the email Johns Manville had sent on January 4th. Johns Manville sued Bill for having broken an impliedcontract. Johns Manville argued in court that once the email had been sent, Bill was under obligation to not go work for a competitor becausehe was being paid by Johns Manville at the time Bill read the email. The court ruled in favor of Bill, concluding that no contract had everbeen created, and the email did not constitute an enforceable contract.But what if the facts of the case were different? Select each set of facts below that could change the case’s outcome.A.) Bill voluntarily signed a covenant not to compete when he was initially hired by Johns Manville.B.) Johns Manville amended the Employee Obligations Constitution that included a covenant not to compete. This occurred three years afterBill had been hired, and Johns Manville assumed that employees that remained working for Johns Manville after the amended constitutionimplicitly agreed to the stipulations therein.C.) Instead of an email, Johns Manville forced all employees, including Bill, to sign a covenant to not compete or otherwise receive a 50% cutin salary. Bill signed.D.) Johns Manville offered promotions, consisting of a bonus, higher salary, and 5 extra vacation days, in exchange for an employees’ signinga covenant not to compete. After signing and receiving these benefits, Bill changed his mind a year later, and went to work for thecompeting fiberglass firm, Glassfiber Inc.

Answer 1

Answer:

A.) Bill voluntarily signed a covenant not to compete when he was initially hired by Johns Manville.

D.) Johns Manville offered promotions, consisting of a bonus, higher salary, and 5 extra vacation days, in exchange for an employees’ signinga covenant not to compete. After signing and receiving these benefits, Bill changed his mind a year later, and went to work for thecompeting fiberglass firm, Glassfiber Inc.

Explanation:

The contract is the legal bond between two or more persons, based on their consent and the legal protection of the state. What is in the contract signed by two people, or two companies must be fulfilled. The email that Johns Manville sent Bill cannot be considered a contract because there was no agreement and consent from both parties, so Bill won the lawsuit filed by Johns Manville because Bill did not break any contract.

But if Bill had consented to and signed a contract with Johns Manville that prevented him from working with competing companies, Bill would have broken the contract when he started working with Glassfiber Inc, so Bill would probably not win the lawsuit. For this reason, we can say that the letter A and the letter D show two ways that could make Bill lose the lawsuit against him.