Morgan Stanley Dw, Inc. v. Frisby

163 F.Supp.2d 1371 (2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P hired Ds as brokers in one of its Atlanta, Georgia offices. Ds signed employment agreements that included a non-solicitation covenant providing that the Ds would not, for one year after their termination or resignation from P, solicit those clients within a 100-mile radius of their north Atlanta office whom they serviced or learned about while employed by P. Ds resigned to go to PaineWebber. P sued and sought a temporary restraining order. P discovered that: (1) the phone numbers of many of the P clients whom D had serviced during their employment were now incorrect in P's computer database; (2) immediately after leaving P, the Ds began a swift and methodical effort to solicit, by overnight mailings, the customers with whom they did business while at P; (3) over 30 P customers with whom Ds had dealings while employed by P have contacted P to terminate their brokerage relationship and transfer their accounts to Ds at PaineWebber; and (4) Ds' efforts at solicitation have included financial incentives to P clients such as Paine Webber's agreement to pay all costs of transfer and/or reduced commissions. P initiated arbitration proceedings available to it under the NASD Code, and it requested that the Court restrain Ds from continuing their unlawful solicitations.