UPDATE Guest Post: New York County Commercial Division Grants TRO Enforcing Restrictive Covenants Pending FINRA Arbitration with Departing Employees

On June 3, 2014, we posted about dueling requests for "emergency" interim relief in a dispute concerning a Deutsche Bank investment advisory team joining the investment advisory and private wealth management firm HPM Partners. Here is an update:

On June 3, 2014, the two most senior departing Deutsche Bank employees, Benjamin Pace and Lawrence Weissman, filed notices of appeal in both actions. The pre-argument statements are available here and here. The principal asserted grounds for reversal are: (1) the absence of any agreement between Deutsche Bank and Pace; and (2) the theory that both were constructively discharged without cause – rendering any restrictive covenants unenforceable.

Also on June 3, HPM moved by order to show cause for expedited document and deposition discovery in anticipation of the scheduled June 24 hearing on the parties' respective requests for preliminary injunctions. The discovery sought focuses on the relevant employees' personnel files (and hence the existence or non-existence of applicable covenants in written employment agreements) and Deutsche Bank's conduct with respect to the investment instruments that Pace and Weissman claim they were being pressured to sell their clients. HPM's brief in support of its motion for discovery is here.

This guest post was written by Isaac B. Zaur of Clarick Gueron Reisbaum LLP.