Bluefin takes former director to court

Bluefin is suing a former Layton Blackham director for setting up a new firm while he was still under contract, according to a High Court writ.

Bluefin, which is the parent company of Layton Blackham Financial Services, says it has lost about £1m in profits and is demanding more than £300,000 from Sean Condon and the firm he set up, Yew Tree Financial Planning.

Condon set up Yew Tree in November 2009, despite not resigning as a director of Layton Blackham Financial Services until December 2009, the writ says.

When he quit, Condon had already set up a Yew Tree website, looked for premises and secured a loan of working capital, the court papers say.

Condon took 54 of his 62 clients to Yew Tree, it is claimed.

After he had gone, Bluefin claims that it found Condon had set up an answerphone message directing clients to his new firm.

The court documents say that Yew Tree deliberately undercut LBFS and that Yew Tree’s business proposition and marketing strategy relied on poaching LBFS clients.

Bluefin declined to comment. Condon was unavailable for comment.