Programme-maker Alan Clements today lost his legal battle over where he works after his conduct was branded by a judge "dishonourable" and untruthful.
Programme-maker Alan Clements today lost his legal battle over where he works after his conduct was branded by a judge "dishonourable" and untruthful.
The High Court ruled that RDF Media today was correct to stop Mr Clements joining its rival.
It had wanted a court order preventing Mr Clements, who is believed to have netted almost £2m when RDF bought his company IWC for £14m in December 2005, from working for Scottish Media Group until December 2008.
The action at London's High Court was based on a three-year "non compete" clause in the sale contract.
But Mr Clements, the husband of Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, had counter-claimed that he was constructively dismissed by RDF and was entitled to summarily determine his employment contract because of its actions.
Today the High Court dismissed his claim.
Deputy Judge Bernard Livesey QC said that while RDF's conduct in speaking to the press about Mr Clements would amount to breach of the employer's obligation to him, Mr Clements's own behaviour justified RDF's decision to terminate his contract.
"In the circumstances, the restrictions imposed remain valid for a period of three years, not two," he said.
The judge said in his ruling that Mr Clements had accepted that he had procured his wife's personal assistant, Janice McKnight, to access former colleague Hamish Barbour's private email inbox on RDF's website to monitor what was being said about him at the company.
The judge said: "He must have known it was neither fair play nor honourable. I find it more than a little surprising that he should have snooped into the private correspondence of a close colleague and friend, having regard to the strong objection he has shown in this case to the reports in the newspaper which alleged that he had behaved in a dishonourable manner."
He said, referring to this as "snooping" that Clements had "behaved dishonourably and in breach of process."
The judge said that, before to the trial, pencil entries in Clements's diary had been erased.
He said: "I do not accept that Mr Clements was telling the truth when he said that the erasure was innocent."
These matters, the judge said, affected Mr Clements's "credibility".
Following today's ruling at the High Court in London, Mr Clements has issued the following statement: "I am disappointed by today's verdict but my legal team and I will appeal and have been given permission to do so.
"It is some consolation that the judge found that RDF had 'stirred up' the case by vilifying me through the media.
"That said, clearly I misread RDF's willingness to reach any amicable arrangement to enable me to move to another job with SMG. Instead, of a straightforward negotiation it became bitter and personal.
"The court found that I broke my contract by talking to SMG. I don't accept that. Half the people in our industry would be out of a job if that was the case. It goes on all the time. I have been given permission to appeal on this.
"I am grateful to SMG for their unswerving support throughout all of this."
