McAlpin practiced with Coweta from December 1993 until he gave his notice on March 10, 1994, effective March 5, 1994. At no point did McAlpin obtain his own map or make any inquiry of anyone else concerning the ten counties or the metropolitan Atlanta area. Testimony at the interlocutory hearing differed as to when McAlpin was shown an atlas showing the area, but both doctors agree it was shown to him, either before or shortly after the contract signing.
*501 It also indicated that DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett, which were not included in the restricted area, were in the Atlanta vicinity. Upon arriving at the hotel, Walker drew a very rough drawing of the counties' locations. Both doctors agree that McAlpin expressed a lack of familiarity with the area during the ride to the hotel where the McAlpin family was to stay. On September 29, Walker and McAlpin met to sign the contract. Instead, McAlpin spoke to Walker on the phone and the only change he requested was in the term of the contract specifying how much vacation could be taken at one time. McAlpin discussed the contract with his Michigan attorney, who expressed some discomfort with the non-competition clause and advised McAlpin to contact a Georgia attorney. Walker, M.D.) in the practice of medicine and surgery, nor otherwise engage in the practice of medicine and surgery, within the boundaries of any one or more of the following counties within the State of Georgia: For the purposes of enforcement of this paragraph, the provisions hereof shall survive the termination date of this Agreement and be fully binding on Physician thereafter." The contract contained the following non-competition clause: "As a part of the consideration for this Agreement, unless the parties otherwise mutually agree in writing, (for a period of two (2) years from and after the termination date of this Agreement) Physician shall neither compete with Employer (or Don C. The proposed contract was sent by overnight carrier to McAlpin in Michigan on September 16, and picked up by him on September 17. Walker received the document from his attorney on September 15. When Walker had a written contract prepared by his attorney, he deleted the 35-mile radius circle as the geographic area of the non-competition clause and, instead, specified ten counties: Coweta, Fayette, Fulton, Heard, Meriwether, Carroll, Clayton, Spalding, Troup, and Pike.
A new hospital had been approved for that area, and it was anticipated it would open in approximately three years. Coweta had a satellite office in Peachtree City, Fayette County. Two of the hospitals in the ten-county area were located in Newnan, Newnan Hospital and Peachtree Regional Hospital. It included a two-year contract term, after which a partnership would be considered, as well as a non-competition clause within a 35-mile radius of Coweta's Newnan office for a two-year period from the termination of the contract.Ĭoweta's main office was located in Newnan, Coweta County. The two doctors exchanged mutual visits, and Walker sent McAlpin a summary of the proposed agreement by which McAlpin would become an employee of Coweta. Walker had practiced in the Newnan area for 12 years. In that capacity, he had telephoned Walker on a couple of occasions to discuss patient treatment and, in the course of these conversations, the two surgeons discussed McAlpin's coming to Newnan to become an employee of Coweta. He worked part-time for an insurance company evaluating appropriateness of care. McAlpin was practicing in Michigan in 1993. This dispute arose when McAlpin left the employ of Coweta and the corporation, through Walker, sued to enforce a non-competition clause in McAlpin's employment contract. McAlpin, a surgeon, appeals from the grant of Coweta Fayette Surgical Associates, P.C.'s (Coweta) motion for interlocutory injunction prohibiting McAlpin's competition with Walker, also a surgeon. Rosenzweig, Kam, Jones & MacNabb, Joseph P. *500 Glass, McCullough, Sherrill & Harrold, John M.
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