Northeastern University v. Brown

Donald A. Brown Jr. (defendant) was the football coach at Northeastern University (Northeastern) (plaintiff). Brown’s contract prohibited Brown from, among other things, negotiating or accepting other employment without Northeastern’s consent. The contract further provided that Brown would be liable for liquidated damages of $25,000 if he left Northeastern’s employment before the contract’s end and that this sum would constitute adequate and reasonable compensation to Northeastern. The contract did not state whether liquidated damages would be Northeastern’s sole remedy if Brown departed Northeastern early. In early February 2004, while Northeastern and Brown were finalizing a contract extension and raise in response to another school’s interest in hiring Brown, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) (defendant) asked for permission to discuss its coaching job with Brown. Northeastern refused this request, but on February 6, Brown notified Northeastern that he had accepted, then declined, UMass’s offer to be its football coach. Over the next several days, Brown told several Northeastern players that he was not leaving the school, but on February 9, Brown resigned from Northeastern to join UMass. Northeastern sued Brown and UMass, seeking preliminary injunctions barring Brown from coaching at UMass, arguing that injunctive relief was needed to protect it from irreparable harm. For example, the schools played each other every year, competed for fans, media coverage, and new players, and Brown could use his knowledge of Northeastern’s playbook and procedures against Northeastern. Brown responded that liquidated damages constituted Northeastern’s sole remedy; Northeastern countered that the parties did not intend for liquidated damages to preclude injunctive relief.