Judge rules ex-Ryanair executive can take up easyJet post
FORMER Ryanair executive Peter Bellew can join the airline’s low-cost rival easyJet because the non-compete clause in his contract is too broadly drawn to be enforceable, a Dublin High Court justice has ruled.
Justice Senan Allen told the court that the non-compete clause in Mr Bellew’s contract was “void and unenforceable as an unjustified restraint of trade”.
Mr Bellew was present for the judgment but offered no immediate reaction. Ryanair executives did not attend.
Justice Allen noted that Mr Bellew’s legal team had argued that he could rule to permit his move to easyJet even if it found the non-compete clause of his contract to be “binding and enforceable”.
They had argued, he said, “that this court has discretion not to enforce it”.
The judge said Mr Bellew had “freely agreed” to the contract’s terms and he was “not unfairly or unreasonably treated” by Ryanair during his time employed there.
He said the broad nature of the non-compete clause “would prevent the defendant (Mr Bellew) from taking up employment with any European airline, including the legacy carriers, and so goes beyond what the plaintiff (Ryanair) has shown to be justified”.
Earlier this month Ryanair executive Eddie Wilson had told the High Court that Mr Bellew, as outgoing chief operations officer, had information about the airline that a competitor would “kill to have”.
Mr Wilson said that through “a lot of hard work” and innovation the airline had for many years come up with ways to keep its costs low.