## Facts

- Gordon Peterson, a prominent television news anchor, entered a written employment contract with Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc. for a three-year term ending June 30, 1980, with two one-year renewal options exercisable by the employer.
- The contract required Peterson to act as a newscaster-anchorman, gather and prepare news material, appear on-air, and participate in related public affairs activities as reasonably required.
- The contract contained an integration clause but no express term allowing or prohibiting assignment.
- In June 1978, Post-Newsweek sold the television station to the Evening News Association and executed a transfer that expressly included assignment of Peterson’s contract.
- After the sale, Peterson continued performing the same role for approximately fourteen months, accepting the same compensation and benefits specified in the contract.
- In August 1979, before the contract term expired, Peterson resigned and arranged to work for a competing District of Columbia television station.
- Evening News sued for a declaration that the contract had been validly assigned and for permanent injunctive relief to prevent Peterson from breaching the contract by working for a competitor during the contract term.

## Issues

1. Whether the employment contract was assignable to the station’s purchaser without Peterson’s consent where the contract lacked an express anti-assignment clause and Peterson claimed it was a personal-services agreement grounded in a special relationship of confidence.
2. Whether, if the assignment was valid, the purchaser was entitled to permanent injunctive relief restraining Peterson from working for a competitor during the remaining contract term.

## Decision

- The court held the employment contract was validly assigned to Evening News and remained enforceable against Peterson.
- The court rejected Peterson’s claim that the agreement was non-assignable based on alleged uniqueness of the services and a special, trust-based relationship with prior management.
- The court found no material change in Peterson’s duties after the sale and no contractual promise that specific managers or colleagues would remain.
- The court treated Peterson’s continued performance and acceptance of contractual compensation and benefits after the sale as confirming the assignment’s effectiveness.
- The court granted declaratory relief and ordered appropriate permanent injunctive relief preventing Peterson from violating the contract by working for a competitor during the contract term.

## Legal Principles

- Contractual rights and duties are generally assignable unless assignment is expressly prohibited, barred by public policy, or would materially change the obligor’s performance obligation.
- An employment agreement is not rendered non-assignable merely because the employee is highly skilled or well known; non-assignability requires a legally significant element of personal trust or confidence that would be materially altered by assignment.
- An integration clause limits reliance on alleged implied understandings inconsistent with the written terms, including claims that performance was conditioned on the continued presence of particular supervisors or coworkers.
- Continued performance and acceptance of benefits after an asserted assignment support enforcement by the assignee and weaken later claims that the assignment was ineffective.
- Permanent injunctive relief may be appropriate to enforce exclusive-service obligations for a defined term where the employee’s services are difficult to replace and damages are inadequate to measure the breach.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that the station purchaser could enforce the news anchor’s employment contract because the contract contained no anti-assignment term, the assignment did not materially alter the anchor’s duties, and the anchor continued performing under the same terms after the sale; it therefore declared the contract enforceable by the purchaser and enjoined competitive employment during the contract term.


Evening News Ass’n v. Peterson, 477 F. Supp. 77 (D.D.C. 1979)