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| American Home Mortgage Corp. has filed a lawsuit against one of its former sales managers alleging that he violated an employment agreement by going to work for First Horizon Home Loan Corp. and taking several loan officers with him.Accusing Daniel McCoy of breaching the agreement he signed with the Melville, N.Y.-based lender, American Home filed suit late last month in federal court in Greensboro, N.C.
In a telephone interview with MortgageDaily.com, McCoy declined to comment on the allegations in the 15-page complaint except to say that his new employer, First Horizon Home Loan Corporation, is providing him with legal representation in the matter. He has not yet filed a response in court. First Horizon was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. A First Horizon spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the company’s policy of not commenting on pending litigation. McCoy worked for American Home from 2004 until 2006 as an area sales manager in American Home’s Greensboro, N.C. office. He resigned in October 2006 to take a job as branch manager of First Horizon Home Loan Corporation, a competitor. The subsidiary of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a real estate investment trust, alleges that McCoy signed an employment agreement that forbade him from participating in any competitive business or to share confidential and proprietary information while working for the company. He also agreed not to take any action intended to harm the company or to solicit any of American Home’s employees for one year after his leaving the mortgage broker, according to court documents. American Home claims that, in violation of the agreement, McCoy met with First Horizon during working time, discussing recruitment, benefit packages and expense reimbursements for himself and some of American Home’s loan officers. Indeed, American Home claims that McCoy influenced four of its loan officers to make the switch to First Horizon after his departure. A source familiar with the case said that one of the four loan officers named in the lawsuit as having been recruited by McCoy is McCoy’s own son. American Home also says McCoy disclosed confidential information to First Horizon’s management and that the job McCoy accepted with First Horizon means that American Homes’ trade secrets will be divulged. American Home has asked the court for an injunction forbidding McCoy from sharing confidential information and from advising First Horizon to solicit or employ American Home’s current employees. The New York-based mortgage broker has also asked for compensatory and punitive damages and for attorneys’ fees. |
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