E-Trade Gets Order to Halt Client Poaching by Ex-Employee (1)

A former employee’s data access pattern was enough to establish E-Trade Financial Corp.'s likelihood of prevailing on claims that she took company trade secrets and violated confidentiality agreements, a federal court ruled.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Sept. 4 granted E-Trade’s request for a temporary restraining order against Heather Pospisil, who allegedly accessed much of E-Trade’s client database days before jumping to competitor Morgan Stanley.

The order barred Pospisil from soliciting E-Trade clients, using any more E-Trade customer information, and ordered her to return any client information. It is in effect while E-Trade seeks ...