The High Court has granted springboard relief to an employer which initially applied for an interim injunction believing that three key employees had been headhunted by a competitor. Disclosure revealed that these employees had, during their employment and garden leave, covertly planned the resignation of several more employees and to move them and the employer's clients to the competitor company, which had been set up and financed for this purpose.

The court noted that the employees had gained classic springboard advantages through their unlawful conduct while still employed: they had used their seniority to influence staff they wished to poach, enjoyed constant access to their employer's confidential information (and been able to use this to help them secure financial backing for the new venture), and started to solicit customers. The employer was granted springboard relief for 12 months from the date of the employees' resignations to remedy the headstart which the employees had unlawfully gained. (QBE Management Services (UK) Ltd v Dymoke and others [2012] EWHC 80 (QB).)