MPM takes former franchisee to court

Krish Krishna was one of a group of former MPM franchisees who were involved in a restraint of trade dispute with the mortgage advisory group.

The ex-franchisees left MPM in 2015 after Australian-based Liberty Financial took over the company.

But one of the clauses in their MPM franchise contracts was a two-year restraint of trade.

This prompted the ex-franchisees to head to the High Court asking that the restraint of trade terms be found void and unenforceable.

MPM then obtained an order from the High Court which prevented the group from competing with it until the dispute is resolved.

The two-year restraint of trade orders have now come to an end.

But MPM went to the High Court in Auckland last week alleging that Krishna breached the order in its final days and should be held in contempt of court.

Krishna refutes the allegations.

It is not the first time that MPM has taken Krishna to court, alleging he breached the non-compete orders.

Last year, MPM tried to get the High Court to issue an arrest warrant for Krishna on the grounds that he had infringed the orders by advertising himself on LinkedIn and on the PAA website.

However, Justice John Faire said that anyone looking for Krishna's LinkedIn page would need to be actively searching for him. 

“Even if a client found Mr Krishna’s LinkedIn page its contents do not amount to Mr Krishna urging or entreating a client to do business with him. 

“Accordingly, I do not believe that the LinkedIn profile amounts to an attempt to solicit MPNZ’s [Mike Pero’s] customers.”

Justice Faire came to a similar finding with regards to Krishna’s listing on the PAA website and dismissed MPM’s applications for arrest and contempt orders.

This year’s contempt order hearing has been scheduled for November 17.

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