Even so, the court went against the firm. “The evidence before us establishes that most of the Kerr clients Edward Jones allegedly lost to Thurston were clients who, after receiving notice from Edward Jones, sought out Mr. Kerr’s services at Thurston, or were people who had a close personal connection to Mr. Kerr. We fail to see any compensable harm to Edward Jones from the loss of such business.”
“These glaring insufficiencies in Edward Jones’s request for injunctive relief suggest that its intention in bringing this lawsuit was less about vindicating or recovering from or preventing its loss of client relationships resulting from Mr. Kerr’s actions, and more to ‘teach him a lesson’ for having left Edward Jones [after he was fired] and connected up with a competing firm,” Judge Barker ruled.
Alex Reed, a spokesman for Edward Jones, said in a statement that the firm plans to pursue the matter with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
"Edward Jones is disappointed in the outcome of the court proceedings. Further proceedings will now take place in arbitration before Finra," he said.