Vendor of Trucking Company Ordered to Live Up to Five Year Non-Compete
The B.C. Supreme Court has granted an interlocutory injunction restraining the vendor of a trucking company, Sonic Transport Ltd., from competing for a period of five years past the ending of his employment with the purchaser.
Diamond Delivery bought Sonic from Leslie and Pam Calder in 2015. Leslie continued to work for the business and also executed a non-competition clause prohibiting his involvement with competitors operating within 100 km of the business, for a period of five years after the termination of his employment. In 2022, Leslie announced his departure in late 2022 to work for a competitor.
In reasons issued February 9, 2023 Justice Sharma granted Diamond Delivery’s application for an interlocutory injunction to enforce the non-competition clause. Key to the decision was the fact that the restriction on competition was agreed to as part of a sale of business as opposed to being within a pure employment context, therefore attracting less rigorous scrutiny from the Court.
The Court’s decision can be found here: Diamond Delivery Inc. v Calder, 2023 BCSC 194 (CanLII)