Valley Medical Specialists v. Farber

Dr. Farber (defendant), a physician-partner at VMS (plaintiff), signed a restrictive covenant barring him from practicing medicine within a five-mile radius of any VMS clinic for three years after leaving — covering roughly 235 square miles — but left VMS and began practicing in violation of the covenant anyway. VMS sued for damages and an injunction; the trial court held the covenant violated public policy and was unreasonably overbroad, but the court of appeals reversed, using the contract's severability clause to narrow and enforce a modified version of the covenant. Farber appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court.