Our colleague Peter L. Altieri, a Member of the Firm at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Trade Secrets & Noncompete Blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the financial services industry: “Non-Solicit Violation: $4.5 Million Punitive Damage Award Upheld.”
Following is an excerpt:
Rarely do we see punitive damages being awarded in cases involving the movement of employees and information between firms. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania last week affirmed a punitive damage award granted by a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in such a matter, albeit which also found tort liability against the new employer and the five former employees.
The decision in B.G. Balmer & Co., Inc. v. Frank Crystal & Co. Inc., et al. sets forth a classic example of “bad leavers” and a complicit new employer. Confidential information concerning clients was copied and given to the new employer. The senior employees, on Company time and using Company facilities, conspired with the new employer to hire the junior employees and solicit existing clients, including the largest and best clients of the Company. Complete indemnification was provided by the new employer to the employees. Personnel files were purloined and not returned upon request. Upon resignation they immediately solicited the company’s largest client and did so using trade secret and confidential information of the Company while disparaging the Company in the process. ...
The conduct of the defendants in Balmer provides a roadmap on how not to recruit employees from a competitor and the resulting punitive damages award should be a further deterrent to all bad leavers and their new employers.