O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 13-8-55 (2019)

(For effective date, see note.) Requirements of person seeking enforcement of covenants

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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The person seeking enforcement of a restrictive covenant shall plead and prove the existence of one or more legitimate business interests justifying the restrictive covenant. If a person seeking enforcement of the restrictive covenant establishes by prima-facie evidence that the restraint is in compliance with the provisions of Code Section 13-8-53, then any person opposing enforcement has the burden of establishing that the contractually specified restraint does not comply with such requirements or that such covenant is unreasonable.

History

(Code 1981, § 13-8-55, enacted by Ga. L. 2009, p. 231, § 3/HB 173.)

Annotations

Editor’s notes. - For information as to the effective date of this Code section, see

the delayed effective date note at the beginning of this article.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 10 cases (7 in the last 5 years), 2018–2026 · leading case: North Am. Senior Benefits, LLC v. Wimmer, 906 S.E.2d 373 (Ga. 2024).

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North Am. Senior Benefits, LLC v. Wimmer, 906 S.E.2d 373 (Ga. 2024). · cites it 4× “See OCGA § 13-8-55 (“The person seeking enforcement of a restrictive covenant shall plead and prove the existence of one or more legitimate business interests justifying the restrictive covenant.”

Patricia Kennedy v. the Shave Barber Co., LLC, 822 S.E.2d 606 (Ga. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 2× “" OCGA § 13-8-55. Legitimate business interests include, but are not limited to, "[s]ubstantial relationships with specific prospective or existing customers .”

Charles Baldwin v. Express Oil Change, LLC, 87 F.4th 1292 (11th Cir. 2023). “” O.C.G.A. § 13-8-55. Thus, to be enforceable, a Georgia law restrictive covenant must generally be both reasona- ble and supported by a legitimate business interest.”

Navicent Health, Inc. v. Fady S. Wanna (Ga. Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 2× “See OCGA § 13-8-55. Here, Health Services’s non-compete covenants were supported by its legitimate business interests in protecting its patient relationships and patient good will associated with its ongoing medical practice.”

RoadSync, Inc. v. Relay Payments, Inc. (N.D. Ga. 2022). · cites it 2× “Given the preliminary posture of this case, the uncertain scope of Defendant’s cited authority, the fact that the 2018 agreement protects confidential information as required by Section 13-8-55, the fact that it does so more extensively than the 2016 agreement (at least in some…”

USI Ins. Servs. LLC v. Tillman (S.D. Ga. 2024). · cites it 2× “” O.C.G.A. § 13-8-55. If the party seeking to enforce the covenant “establishes by prima-facie evidence that the restraint is in compliance with the provisions of Code Section 13-8-53, then any person opposing enforcement has the burden of establishing that the contractually…”

Pence (M.D. Ga. 2025). · cites it 2× “” § 13-8-55. If Integrity adequately establishes “that the restraint is in compliance with the provisions of [§ 13-8-53],” the burden passes to Candice to show that the “contractually specified restraint does not comply with such requirements or that such covenant is…”

William Brent Galloway v. Total Play, LLC (Ga. Ct. App. 2026). · cites it 2× “See OCGA § 13-8-55 (“The person seeking enforcement of a restrictive covenant shall plead and prove the existence of one or more legitimate business interests justifying the restrictive covenant.”

Total Sys. Servs. LLC v. Green (M.D. Ga. 2020). “§ 13-8-55. See Kennedy v. Shave Barber Co.”

Gallagher Benefit Servs., Inc. v. Campbell (N.D. Ga. 2021). “§ 13-8-55. The GRCA defines a “legitimate business interest” to include: (A) Trade secrets, as defined by Code Section 10-1-761; (B) Valuable confidential information that otherwise does not qualify as a trade secret; (C) Substantial relationships with specific prospective or…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.