Agha v Devine Real Estate Concord Pty Ltd & Ors

The appeal concerned a dispute between Mr Agha (the first appellant) and Devine Real Estate Concord Pty Ltd and its director, Mr Devine (the respondents). Mr Agha had been employed by the respondents and subsequently commenced employment with a competitor. The respondents alleged that Mr Agha had breached his contractual obligations of confidentiality and restraint of trade, and also breached his equitable duty of confidence by misusing confidential information and client lists. The primary judge had found in favour of the respondents on most of these claims.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether Mr Agha had breached his equitable duty of confidence by misusing confidential information, and whether the restraint of trade clauses in his employment contract were valid and enforceable. Specifically, the court considered whether the information Mr Agha had taken was confidential, whether it remained confidential despite being in the public domain to some extent, and whether the restraints imposed were reasonable in scope and duration to protect the respondents' legitimate business interests, including client and staff connections.

The Court of Appeal found that while Mr Agha had breached his contractual obligations of confidentiality, the equitable duty of confidence was not breached in relation to certain information that was considered to be in the public domain. However, the court held that the restraint of trade clauses were too broad and therefore unenforceable. The court reasoned that the restraints sought to prevent Mr Agha from competing generally, rather than protecting specific, legitimate business interests of the respondents.

Consequently, the appeal of Mr Agha was allowed in part, and the appeal of Mr Devine was allowed. Orders made by the primary judge were set aside, and directions were given regarding the costs of the appeal, with each party bearing some of the costs depending on the specific claims involved.