Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC v. Armon et al

Filing 15

TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER granting in part and denying without prejudice in part 2 Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 65. Signed by Judge B. Lynn Winmill. (caused to be mailed to non Registered Participants at the addresses listed on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) by (cjm)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF IDAHO
MORGAN STANLEY SMITH BARNEY,
LLC,
Plaintiff,

Case No. 2:13-cv-000234-BLW
TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER

vs.
MICHAEL W. ARMON, DONALD B.
SCHARENBERG and GUY E. GERBER,
Defendants.
Having heard the parties on the 20th day of May, 2013, upon consideration of (1)
the Complaint and Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order of Plaintiff Morgan
Stanley Smith Barney (“MSSB”) and supporting Declarations (Michelle Brandel, Tonya Smith,
Chris Ishii, Tom Lynch, Robert Yuditsky, Stephen Thomas), and (2) the Memorandum in
Opposition filed by Defendants, together with three Declarations (Michael Armon, Donald
Scharenberg, Guy Gerber), and (3) all other submissions to date in this case by Plaintiff and
Defendants, and having heard oral argument of counsel for Plaintiff and Defendants, and having
determined that:
1.

Except as noted below, MSSB has not demonstrated a substantial

likelihood of success on the merits of its claims under Rule 65, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
and its motion is hereby DENIED in all respects except and only as to solicitation of MSSB
employees by Defendant ARMON. In that regard, temporary relief is hereby granted as
described below

TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER - 1

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND DECREED THAT:
1.

Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and

Preliminary Injunction (Dkt. 2) is GRANTED in part and DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE in
part, as explained above. Plaintiff may renew its motion if it obtains evidence that defendants
have wrongly taken or used confidential client information beyond the five data points set forth
in the Protocol for Broker Recruiting.
2.

Defendant Michael W. “Mic” Armon is immediately enjoined and

restrained – directly and indirectly, whether alone or in concert with others, including any
officer, agent, employee, and/or representative of defendants’ new employer Stifel, Nicolaus &
Company (“Stifel”) – until further Order of this Court, from soliciting or otherwise initiating any
further contact of communication with any employee of MSSB for the purpose of inviting,
encouraging, or requesting the MSSB employee to terminate his/her employment with MSSB
and/or to join Stifel;
3.

This Order shall be deemed to have been in effect since 5:00 p.m. on May

20, 2013, when first issued verbally by this Court;
4.

The Court’s Order shall remain in full force and effect until such a time as

either a FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) arbitration panel renders a final
decision on MSSB’s request for injunctive relief, or this Court specifically orders otherwise.

DATED: June 11, 2013

_________________________
B. Lynn Winmill
Chief Judge
United States District Court

TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER - 2