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An Indianapolis investment firm has sued two of its former employees, alleging they solicited the firm’s clients and stole trade secrets after leaving for another company.
The Kiecker Corp. — an independently operated agency of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, which is the largest investment brokerage firm in the Indianapolis area, according to IBJ research — filed the lawsuit in the Marion County Superior Court last week, arguing that former employees Jordan Blackwell and Joseph Gautier breached their contracts by contacting their former clients after they joined a new company. The case is now on the Commercial Court docket.
Blackwell and Gautier are accused of breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty.
Kiecker is requesting the court impose a temporary restraining order on Blackwell and Gautier to prevent them from soliciting their former clients and from disclosing any information related to Kiecker’s business activities. A hearing on the restraining order has been set for March 2.
Blackwell and Gautier did not immediately respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s requests for comment. No attorneys were listed as representing them as of Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Dentons, which is representing Kiecker, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the complaint, both Blackwell and Gautier resigned from Kiecker in December, following more than four years as financial advisors with the company. After leaving, the pair joined competitor firm WestPoint Financial Group, Inc., in Indianapolis, where they serve as associate partner and partner, respectively.
The lawsuit alleges that after resigning, Blackwell and Gautier requested life insurance policy information from former clients to compare with their new employer, WestPoint. (Representatives at WestPoint — which is not named as a defendant — did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.)
But according to a Kiecker employee contract, which the lawsuit claims both Blackwell and Gautier agreed to, terminated employees cannot “directly or indirectly, otherwise solicit, induce or attempt to induce any such person to engaged with another company in any insurance, securities, commodities, banking, and/or financial services trade, business or profession” for at least a year after the termination of their employment.
Kiecker also alleges that Blackwell and Gautier, while still employed by Kiecker, converted confidential firm business records, such as client information, for personal use and transmitted client information to WestPoint.
In its emergency motion for a temporary restraining order on Monday, Kiecker argues that without the court’s interference to halt Blackwell and Gautier’s alleged solicitations and stealing of company property, Kiecker will lose customers and suffer financial damage.
The case is The Kiecker Corporation v. Jordan Blackwell, Joseph Gautier (49D01-2602-CE-009799).
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