x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.
Written by rosalind renshaw

Foxtons is suing a former employee for more than £300,000 after he started an upmarket property search company in the same area.

Emmanuel Aymes was senior sales negotiator for Foxtons, based in its South Kensington office for four years.

He resigned in January and set up London Asia, which describes itself as a fully independent central London property finding company which works solely for buyers, both local and international.

Foxtons claims he broke a covenant he signed which demands he remains ‘loyal’ to the company for six months after leaving.

The agency said it spends more than £3m a year on its “highly sensitive, valuable” client database and is seeking loss and damages.

A writ issued in the High Court claims Mr Aymes’s business focused “in particular in the South Kensington area” and that he had “misappropriated confidential information” belonging to Foxtons. He is also accused of breaching his “duties of confidence” by “copying and retaining confidential information” without permission.

The company also claims Mr Aymes solicited three clients whose details he obtained while working for them.

Mr Aymes, who is French, could not be contact by EAT but told the Evening Standard that he was shocked at the writ and had little knowledge of the English legal system.

The case echoes one of almost exactly a year ago when Foxtons filed court papers against a former senior director, Timothy Hassell, and his partner Christopher Andrew.

Mr Hassell had spent 12 years with Foxtons but resigned to start a new business with his partner, Draker Lettings, covering the most upmarket areas of central London.

Foxtons was also demanding £300,000 in that case, claiming that confidential data had been taken. It is understood that an out of court settlement was reached.

Comments

  • icon

    I love the idea of Foxtons going after someone. It makes me think of a man being chased by a mob of logo'd mini's being driven by boys wearing unfeasalbly large ties dripping with hair gel.

    Made me chuckle anyway.

    • 25 August 2011 12:20 PM
  • icon

    Who needs a life...

    • 23 August 2011 12:26 PM
  • icon

    Who needs rhetorical questions?

    • 22 August 2011 17:13 PM
  • icon

    No-one should ever steal another agents customers, tout another agents business, or be underhanded in any way whatsoever. It simply isn't cricket.... and !

    Foxtons hate competition

    Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

    • 22 August 2011 16:26 PM
  • icon

    FBA - Daft and I like it.... ;>)

    POLICE DOGS STOLEN - They have no leads!

    • 22 August 2011 16:08 PM
  • icon

    POLICE STATION TOILET STOLEN, Police have nothing to go on

    • 22 August 2011 15:22 PM
  • icon

    Fun Boy Agent: "What if there were no more hypothetical questions?"

    Hmmm - good one. Is that possible?

    • 22 August 2011 14:38 PM
  • icon

    Fun Boy Agent on 2011-08-22 12:22:14

    What if there were no more hypothetical questions?


    Please stop making me laugh at your daft posts!

    • 22 August 2011 14:21 PM
  • icon

    "...he was shocked at the writ and had little knowledge of the English legal system."

    Funny, then, how another testimonial on the company website from 'A barrister in London' describes Monsieur Aymes as: "...unique in having a thorough understanding of the practical and legal issues which might arise in the course of a transaction"

    Seems he understands the system well enough, then...

    • 22 August 2011 14:16 PM
  • icon

    The litigation costs alone are probably enough to crush this guy.

    The Human Rights Act states that the right to work is considered a basic human right and therefore Foxtons cannot stop him.

    The onus will be on Foxtons to prove he stole the data from them and then used it to contact the clients.

    Tough but not impossible to do - you only need 3 loyal customers who say "I got an email..."

    • 22 August 2011 13:44 PM
  • icon

    If information was copied from a data base it's theft - no defence. I have experienced staff who have copied info before resigning and its is calculating and premeditated. It takes hard earned business away from your colleagues and the company who paid you.

    To claim he "had little knowledge of the English legal system" is ridiculous when he is working in an industry bound by it and where jurisdiction falls to the English Courts.

    The suggestion that an out of Court settlement would be reached allows people to draw their own conclusions.

    The fact Foxtons are so big is no excuse - it just means that more information was available.

    Simply, if you cant do the time.....

    • 22 August 2011 13:03 PM
  • icon

    What if there were no more hypothetical questions?

    • 22 August 2011 12:22 PM
  • icon

    Barry - "Clients are always likely to follow somebody who jumps ship."

    The question is HOW did they know?

    • 22 August 2011 12:20 PM
  • icon

    This happens in all walks of life, get over it.

    Generally we like to do business with people and couldn't give a damn about the company name behind them.

    Clients are always likely to follow somebody who jumps ship.

    • 22 August 2011 11:55 AM
  • icon

    Hmmm...

    From the company website: "I had been working with Emmanuel Aymes for 4 years and the experience I had with him was phenomenal"

    Now this is allegedly written in March this year by a Malaysian Family in Kuala Lumpur.

    SO - within 2 months of setting up 'shop', these long-time clients, who are half a world away, had apparently stumbled upon him trading under another name, and jumped ship.

    Possible? Yes - ANYTHING is possible.
    Plausible? Answers on a postcard, please...

    • 22 August 2011 11:30 AM
  • icon

    It only takes a few non resident clients to report that they have been contacted - otherwise there is no case.

    • 22 August 2011 10:34 AM
  • icon

    Aymes defence would rely upon Foxtons having to prove that he took the data. If he used it, by contacting the clients, they have a good case. The fact that he opened a shop is irrellevant and a red herring.

    • 22 August 2011 10:17 AM
  • icon

    Jodie - whilst I agree, that applies more to exclusion clauses. No one should be prevented for earning a living wherever they wish to earn it - and in fact such clauses are hard to enforce.

    Non solicitation is different.

    The allegation that he had "“misappropriated confidential information”" is entirely different. You cant stop someone 'remembering' contacts, but copying a database, if that is what has happened, is theft as is taking contact details of vendors and landlords.

    • 22 August 2011 08:35 AM
  • icon

    No one can stop a person making a living good luck to mr aymes. Sequence tried a similar tactic with my boss and failed.

    • 22 August 2011 07:16 AM
MovePal MovePal MovePal