Evershed: Duffield 'vile' to fund managers; Lawsuit gets green light

Former New Star fund manager Patrick Evershed can proceed with a lawsuit over claims he was bullied by company founder John Duffield, a London court said.

Bloomberg reports Evershed can pursue whistleblowing and unfair dismissal claims, a London appeals court ruled today. New Star had sought to dismiss the whistleblowing claim, which allows him to seek unlimited damages.

Evershed wrote a letter to New Star's human resources department complaining of Duffield's conduct in October 2008. He was suspended by the fund's chief executive officer, Howard Covington, shortly after, Evershed said..

Duffield "has been most vile to most of the fund managers for several years and bullying us," Evershed said in the letter. "In particular he bullied me into reopening my fund. This destroyed the performance of the fund and my reputation."

Evershed said he joined New Star under the agreement that his fund, New Star Select Opportunities, would not exceed investments of £50m, a limit he said that was critical to its success, according to the judgment.

The fund performed well and Duffield forced him to allow the investments to triple, leading to underperformance, Evershed claimed.

New Star has denied the allegations and said that Evershed resigned, according to the judgment.

Henderson spokesperson Jamie Legg says: "This is a legacy issue which Henderson was aware of when it acquired New Star. We have no further comment other than to say this will be decided at the tribunal."