High Court proceedings have been settled in a dispute in which a former managing director of a supplier of materials to the construction industry was alleged to have taken the firm’s commercially sensitive information before taking up employment with a rival.
Dublin-headquartered Laydex Ltd, last month brought proceedings against former MD Gerard Callan seeking injunctions restraining him from using that information or disclosing or making it available to others.
The injunctions were also sought against Nora Treacy, regional sales manager with international pharma company Eli Lilly and described in court papers as a close personal friend of Mr Callan.
When the case next came before the court, Mr Justice Brian Cregan was told the defendants were prepared to give undertakings not to disclose, utilise or delete any of the information sought.
RM Block
Other parts of the injunction application relating to Laydex wanting orders to allow a forensic IT consultant to examine data on the defendants’ electronic devices and associated matters would be a matter of discussion between the parties over the next two weeks, the judge was told.
When the case came back again on Tuesday, Joe Jeffers SC, for Laydex, said the parties had agreed final orders for the disposal of the entire proceedings. Counsel said nine orders had been agreed which provide a method for dealing with the issues between the parties and the proceedings could be stuck out.
Mr Justice Cregan made those orders with no order as to costs.
Laydex had claimed Mr Callan left the firm in December 2024, having made clear his intention to retire, and on terms including a €10,000 non-compete clause.
In March, Laydex heard Mr Callan had started working for competitor Fortune Ltd.
A review of Mr Callan’s company email account was conducted and further investigation revealed he deleted entire files and had sent quite an amount of confidential information to Mr Treacy’s Eli Lilly email. He had also sent information to his own gmail account and to that of his son Rory who has no connection with Laydex, it was claimed.
Laydex said it later learned Mr Callan had been actively pursuing Laydex suppliers and agents, it was also claimed.
