John Eastwood called as witness on final day of High Court hearing
Eastwood & Partners boss John Eastwood yesterday denied using confidential information obtained by a new employee to poach clients from rival broker Romero.
Eastwood was giving evidence at the final day of a three-day court case brought by Romero Insurance Brokers against Eastwood & Partners and Andrew Templeton.
Romero alleged that Templeton, who managed Eastwood & Partners’ Halifax office, breached the terms of his contract by contacting his old clients at Romero and asking them to move to Eastwood.
But Eastwood said that Templeton had approached people he already knew without using any confidential information about clients.
Even if there had been information available, Eastwood said he wouldn’t have used it. “If you live by the sword, you die by the sword,” he said.
Eastwood said he supported the principle of the restrictive covenants common in brokers’ contracts which prevent them from contacting former clients for a number of months. “We’re dependent on restrictive covenants in any form being applicable. It’s in the commercial interests of all of us that there isn’t mayhem out there,” he said.
But Eastwood said he was satisfied, following legal advice, that Templeton had been constructively dismissed from Romero. The constructive dismissal constituted a repudiatory breach of contract which voided the restrictive covenants, lawyers for Eastwood and Templeton argued.
“In 40 years of business this is the first time I’ve been in court on this sort of issue,” Eastwood said.”I would have kept him [Templeton] away from Romero’s clients for 12 months if I wasn’t satisfied there had been a constructive dismissal.”
About 40 clients of the 90 Templeton dealt with at Romero transferred to Eastwood. Eastwood claimed those clients would have left Romero anyway and “gone in a variety of directions”.
Lawyers for Romero argued that Templeton was put on risk of notice of redundancy and not constructively dismissed. Romero is suing Templeton and Eastwood for an alleged breach of contract.
Yesterday Romero managing director Simon Mabb claimed the constructive dismissal case was “concocted to enable Templeton to get out of his restrictive covenants.”
Justice Jack retired to consider his verdict yesterday.
