By Bob Stevensand Daniel Hart

As we have discussed on this blog before, on May 11, 2011, Georgia reissued its new Restrictive Covenant Act (the “New Act”). The New Act reflected a fundamental change in Georgia’s law regarding restrictive covenants because it permitted Georgia courts to “blue pencil” (i.e., partially enforce) restrictive covenants that otherwise would be overbroad and, therefore, completely unenforceable under then-existing Georgia case law. While the New Act permits Georgia courts to partially enforce overbroad restrictive covenants, it does not require that they do so.

For the first time since Georgia passed the New Act, a Court in Georgia has elected to exercise its discretion to blue pencil restrictive covenants that it found to be overbroad. In Pointenorth Insur. Group v. Zander, No. 1:11-cv-3262-RWS, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113413 (N. D. Ga. Sept. 30, 2011), the Court found that, among other things, the non-solicitation covenant contained in the employment agreement at issue was overbroad because it extended to any of the former employer’s clients, not just the ones with whom the former employee had contact during her employment. 

Rather than attempting to excise or mark out the overbroad provision and enforce the remaining restrictive covenants, the Court modified or altered the restrictive covenant and enjoined the former employee only from soliciting the clients with whom she had contact while employed by the plaintiff. The Court also enjoined the new employer from soliciting the same clients. 

This suggests that at least the Court interprets the New Act as providing it with the discretion to re-write restrictive covenants to make them enforceable, rather than merely providing a court with the power to remove overbroad covenants. It remains to be seen if other courts in Georgia follow the Pointenorth Court’s lead and use the New Act as a basis for re-writing restrictive covenants that are found to be overbroad. For the time being, this decision represents the lone voice on the stage and indicates that there may be a willingness to modify restrictive covenants instead of simply excising them and enforcing the remaining provisions.