Marine Contractors Co., Inc. v. Hurley

When longtime employee Hurley (defendant) left Marine (plaintiff), the company offered to accelerate payment of his retirement-trust share (which would otherwise be held five years) in exchange for his promise not to compete for five years; the parties executed an agreement reciting "ONE DOLLAR and other good and valuable consideration" and stating the parties had "set their hands and seals" to it, and Hurley received his roughly $12,000 trust share immediately. When Hurley soon began competing work near Boston, including with Marine's own customers, Marine sued for an injunction; Hurley argued the agreement lacked sufficient consideration, but the trial court found both that the sealed-instrument recital made consideration unnecessary and that the accelerated trust payment was independently sufficient consideration, and granted the injunction.