American Broadcasting Co. v. Wolf

Facts

Defendant, Warner Wolf, was a sportscaster with Plaintiff, American Broadcasting Companies. The parties had entered into an employment agreement, which was to terminate on March 5, 1980. The agreement contained a renewal option, which required Defendant to negotiate in good faith with Plaintiff for the 90-day period from December 6, 1979 through March 4, 1980, the first 45 days of which were to be exclusive. Upon termination of the agreement, Defendant was required to give Plaintiff a right of first refusal until June 3, 1980, which meant that Defendant was to either refrain from accepting any job offers during this period or inform Plaintiff of the offer before he accepted. Without Plaintiff’s knowledge, Defendant began negotiations with CBS in October and ultimately entered into an agreement with CBS in February, after the exclusive period with Plaintiff had terminated. Defendant then resigned from his employment with Plaintiff and Plaintiff sued, claiming that Defendant bre ached the good-faith negotiation and right of first refusal provisions in his contract. Plaintiff sought specific enforcement of the right of first refusal provision and an injunction to prevent Defendant’s employment with CBS.