Michael D. Hostetler appeals from the trial court’s order modifying its final judgment in his declaratory and injunctive relief action against Answerthink, Inc., regarding the non-solicitation agreement, which contained a Florida choice of law provision; the trial court entered a final judgment that found the agreement in violation of Georgia public policy and enjoined any attempt to enforce the void non-solicitation agreement; in a subsequent modification order, the trial court limited its injunction to application in Georgia only, while Hostetler contends that the court should have enjoined its use everywhere. We agree, and reverse. In 1994, Hostetler began work in the areas of finance, accounting transaction processing, and the design of administrative processes with Gunn Partners. In 1996, he and another associate started Exult, Inc., and they developed a business involving the open sharing of information between client companies to develop the best practices in finance and accounting; this is collaborative learning through program features, i.e., meetings, webcasts, site visits, and white papers to share information. In 2000, Gunn Partners acquired Exult, Inc., and Hostetler continued to work on collaborative learning for his former company as an employee of Exult Process Intelligence Center “EPIC”. In February of 2002, Exult, Inc. sold EPIC to Acquisition Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Answerthink, Inc.
In February of 2003, Hostetler became an employee of Answerthink and signed the Form Compliance Agreement, which contained a non-solicitation provision and a provision calling for the application of Florida law in its interpretation. The agreement was signed in Georgia. Both at the time of execution of the agreement and now, Hostetler was a Georgia resident and was working for The Hackett Group, a unit of Answerthink that had its operations based in Atlanta, Georgia, where Hostetler was also based and did work. Answerthink is a corporation authorized to do business in Georgia. At The Hackett Group, Hostetler was a mid-level employee who directly supervised two other employees and worked mostly in the area of collaborative learning. On April 22, 2003, Hostetler resigned from Answerthink.
