Cantor Fitzgerald can't talk tough with its mouth full of humble pie
Earlier this month there were joyful scenes at Harlan Goldstein's Gold restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong as four senior executives with Reorient Financial Markets along with colleagues and clients celebrated a High Court victory over Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor had failed in its efforts in the High Court to win damages from four senior executives who left the New York-based firm to join Reorient.
Cantor had sued for HK$8.7 million in damages from former Cantor Hong Kong chief Jason Boyer; Bradford Ainslie and Brett McGonegal, formerly of Cantor's Asian cash equities desk; and Uwe Parpart, its former Asia economist. The four were accused of breaching their employments contracts and causing a 29 per cent drop in Cantor's average monthly revenues. All four told the court in a trial last month that they left Cantor independently.
Cantor has a reputation for tenaciousness when it comes to legal matters and it yesterday served notice of its intention to appeal the verdict. The trial last month heard that Cantor chief executive Howard Lutnick was heard saying in a conference call: 'I hope Jason Boyer has saved all the money he made here because he'll need it for his lawyers for years to come.' High Court Judge A.T. Reyes ordered the four to pay various sums in lieu of notice, but Cantor was ordered to pay most of the four's legal costs. Judge Reyes said in his verdict: 'There is not a shred of evidence suggesting that, whether individually or collectively, they had any intention to injure Cantor Hong Kong.'
The judgment caused a stir in Hong Kong for the implications it carried for employment law. It overturned HSBC Bank Plc v Wallace (2008), which until now has been the standard position on these matters and interestingly was successfully argued by HSBC's barrister Adrian Huggins. He subsequently had the opportunity to argue the opposite side of the case when he represented the four Reorient executives in their dispute with Cantor. The outcome of the appeal will be watched with interest.
Economist is frank on rivalry