Morgan Fire Protection Limited v Robert Peter Mogford & Anor

Interim relief in restraint-of-trade and confidentiality claims is governed by the American Cyanamid test. Although the serious-issue threshold is low, the court may make a preliminary assessment of the merits at the balance-of-convenience stage where the restraint will expire before trial. A covenant restricting solicitation and dealings with customers personally serviced by an employee may be reasonably necessary to protect legitimate business interests, particularly where it is time-limited and permits written consent. An injunction must nevertheless be framed with sufficient clarity and should not prohibit use of information that is genuinely in the public domain. Delay is relevant to the balance of convenience, but does not automatically defeat interim relief.

Morgan Fire Protection Limited sought interim injunctions against its former field service engineer, Robert Peter Mogford, and his company, General Fire Protection Limited. The claim alleged breaches of post-termination customer restrictions, misuse of confidential information and passing off.

The application arose after Mr Mogford resigned and began providing fire-safety services to former customers of the claimant. He accepted dealing with several such customers but said that they had approached him. The defendants also challenged the enforceability of the covenants, relied on alleged breaches by the claimant, and objected to the claimant’s delay.

The court had to decide whether interim relief should be granted, whether damages would be adequate, where the balance of convenience lay, and how any order should be framed.

1. The application for interim injunctions was granted in part. The court applied the test in American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975] A.C. 396: whether there was a serious issue to be tried, whether damages were an adequate remedy, and where the balance of convenience lay.

2. The serious-issue threshold was satisfied. There were unresolved factual issues about whether Mr Mogford had solicited former customers and legal issues about the enforceability of Appendix 2 and clause 25 of the employment contract. Following Planon Limited v Gilligan [2022] EWCA Civ 642, the court did not conduct a final merits determination at the interlocutory stage. However, because trial was unlikely before the 12-month restrictions expired, some preliminary merits assessment was appropriate.

3. There was a reasonably strong argument that the customer restrictions were enforceable. They were limited to customers who had placed business with the claimant during the relevant period and with whom the employee had dealt, lasted 12 months, and permitted written consent where withholding consent was reasonably necessary to protect legitimate business interests.

4. Damages were inadequate, particularly because the claimant’s loss might include difficult-to-quantify commercial relationships and the defendants appeared unlikely to have resources to satisfy a judgment. The balance of convenience favoured interim relief. Delay did not alter that conclusion because the claimant had attempted to resolve matters without litigation and the injunction would not prevent Mr Mogford from working altogether.

5. The confidentiality order required delivery up of customer lists and contact details obtained during employment, supported by affidavit evidence. The order incorporated the contractual carve-out for information in the public domain and permitted use of confidential information where necessary to comply with the order. The court recognised uncertainty about whether publicly available telephone numbers were confidential and left final determination to trial.

6. Until 27 October 2024 or further order, Mr Mogford was restrained, without prior written consent, from soliciting or dealing with clients with whom he had dealt while employed by the claimant. Costs were reserved. Permission to appeal was refused.

This was a first-instance interim application in the High Court. No prior appellate decision is stated in the judgment.