nChain Holding AG (formerly HEH Holding AG) v Christen Ager-Hanssen
[2024] EWHC 1230 (Comm)
Bond Turner Limited v Patrick Maginn
28 May 2024
[2024] EWHC 1521 (KB)
High Court
A former employee stole client secrets. The court ordered him to give them back. He didn't. The court found him guilty and gave him a four-month jail sentence, but he won't go to jail if he follows instructions to return all the secret information and explain what he did with it.
Key Facts
- •Bond Turner Limited (claimant) sought committal of Patrick Maginn (defendant) for breaching a court order.
- •Maginn, a former employee of Bond Turner, allegedly transferred confidential client information to a competitor firm before leaving his employment.
- •Maginn failed to comply with a previous court order (the Cawson order) requiring him to return the documents and provide information.
- •Maginn did not appear at the hearing.
- •The court addressed issues of service and the admissibility of evidence (witness statement instead of affidavit).
- •The court considered the defendant's failure to comply with the order and his ability to do so.
- •The court found Maginn in contempt of court.
Legal Principles
Committal for breach of a court order requires the judge to (1) identify what the order required; (2) determine if the defendant did it, and if not, if he could have; (3) the burden of proof is on the applicant (criminal standard); (4) judgment must clearly state the finding of breach and ability to comply.
L-W (Children) (Enforcement and Committal: Contact) [2010] EWCA Civ 1253, paragraph 34
Guidance on sentencing for committal in civil commercial cases, including consideration of suspending a custodial sentence.
Isbilen v Turk [2024] EWCA Civ 568
Relevant factors for sentencing in committal cases, including seriousness of breach, mitigation, and impact on the claimant.
Liverpool Victoria Insurance v Khan [2019] 1 WLR 3833 at [57]-[71]; Attorney General v Crosland [2021] 4 WLR 103 at [44]; Solicitors Regulation Authority v Khan [2022] EWHC 45 (Ch)
CPR rule 81.4 regarding requirements for contempt applications.
CPR rule 81.4
CPR rule 6.28 regarding dispensing with personal service.
CPR rule 6.28
CPR rule 6.27 regarding alternative service methods.
CPR rule 6.27
Outcomes
Maginn was found in contempt of court for breaching the Cawson order.
He failed to comply with the order's requirements and provided no explanation for his non-compliance. The court was satisfied to the criminal standard that he could have complied but chose not to.
Maginn was sentenced to four months' imprisonment, suspended for six months.
The seriousness of the breach warranted a custodial sentence. However, the sentence was suspended given the lack of further wrongdoing and the complexities of the order's requirements for a litigant in person. The suspension is conditional on Maginn providing a witness statement explaining his actions and verifying deletion of the confidential information.