Successful in appeal involving restrictive covenants, confidential information and fiduciary duties.
Valley First Financial Services Ltd. v. Trach involved a Credit Union suing three of it's former employees, including a sales employee who was the "unofficial manager" of its group benefits department in Vernon, and two administrative staff. Although the employment agreement between the sales employee and the Credit Union contained certain restrictions, including non-competition, non-solicitation and non-disclosure covenants, the Court held that the restrictions were "unreasonably broad" and/or inapplicable, and therefore unenforceable.
The non-disclosure agreement was inapplicable because it protected the confidential information of the Credit Union's customers, not the Credit Union's own proprietary information. With respect to the two administrative staff, who had no restrictive covenants, the Court found that they had not breached their duty of good faith and fidelity to the Credit Union, since it was the sales employee's bond with the customers that had induced them to leave the Credit Union.
Valley First Financial Services Ltd. v. Trach, 2004 BCCA