AMP Services is appealing a federal court ruling that ordered Goldman Sachs JB Were financial planner Angela Manning pay $45,000 to AMP for poaching clients from the company.
AMP had wanted Manning to pay the far greater amount of $4.3 million as compensation to AMP-owned Arrive Wealth Management. Manning was one of the Arrive's best performing advisers before she resigned in 2004.
AMP said Manning had breached her fiduciary duties and employment contract that caused Arrive to lose $1.6 million in revenue after she left the firm. It assigned a capital value on the loss of $4.3 million.
In March 2006, Justice Ray Finkelstein rejected most of AMP's claims but found Manning had breached her employment duties when making telephone calls to clients to inform them she leaving.
They were not merely courtesy calls but 'enticement pure and simple', he said.
The judge reserved his decision about compensation until last month when he ordered Manning to pay $45,000. He said he arrived at this figure with a great deal of judicial guesswork because the calculation of loss of income was far from scientific.
Around 75 per cent of the 80 clients Manning contacted followed her to Goldman Sachs, the judge said.
He said Arrive would not have been able to convince any of the lost clients to stay with the firm after Manning left nor was anything done to retain them.
Advisers were told to be evasive if clients wanted to know where Manning had gone, he added.
AMP declined to comment because the matter is before the court.
Manning's lawyers also declined to comment.
