In lawsuit, MetLife Bank accuses former workers of stealing customers

MetLife Bank is suing 20 home-loan employees who went to work for a competitor, alleging the managers violated nonpiracy agreements and diverted customers to their new employer.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in March, claims that former MetLife Bank managers hired employees they supervised to join them at Evergreen Moneysource Mortgage Co.

In an earlier agreement, the managers had promised not to solicit any MetLife employee to join another company, according to legal papers.

The lawsuit says there was a "mass exodus" of loan office employees at two MetLife Bank branches in Las Vegas because of the former managers' actions.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and an order requiring Evergreen to disgorge the benefits of the alleged misconduct.

"We are vigorously defending against the claims and believe that they will ultimately be dismissed," said attorney Robert Rosenthal, who represents Evergreen and some of the individual defendants in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed by the national bank subsidiary of MetLife Inc., which also is the parent company of the similarly named insurance company.

Problems began in October when MetLife Bank district sales leader Patrick Riley of Reno called a meeting of branch managers and loan officers, according to the lawsuit.

Riley told about 40 attendees that they had no future with MetLife Bank, according to the lawsuit. The district sales leader resigned in January and started working for Eagle Home Mortgage of California, according to the lawsuit.

Many bank employees, however, took jobs with Evergreen instead of Eagle, the lawsuit said. The former MetLife managers misled employees to think that bank intended to close branches in Las Vegas and diverted customers to Evergreen, according to the lawsuit.

Some individuals took expensive cherry-wood furniture and substituted less expensive oak furniture, according to the court papers. The cherry furniture was later returned.

Also taken were equipment, office supplies and customer files, the lawsuit said.

Chantel Walker, head of the labor and employment practice group at Gordon Silver, said she hasn't reviewed MetLife Bank's case, but she said she expects more lawsuits over restrictive employment agreements.

"There probably has been an increase in these claims because noncompete agreements are becoming more and more common," she said.

In Nevada, restrictive agreements generally can be enforced if the judge finds them reasonable and necessary to protect a business, she said.

However, she said, the judge will consider whether the employee can make a living despite the restrictions they have accepted.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at
jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.