H15･9･17 at Tokyo District Court

【Judgement】 invalid dismissal

【Company】　Merrill Lynch Investment Managers

【Category 】disciplinary dismissal

【Reference】 Rodo Hanrei 858-57

【Position/Salary】 : JPY 17.7M

【Summary】

It can be asserted that the documents, delivered by the plaintiff to his counsel for the purpose of seeking advice regarding bullying and discriminatory treatment against him, contained company's confidential business information. Given the plaintiff's position and the attendant obligation to maintain the strict confidentiality, the plaintiff is prohibited, absent extraordinary circumstances, from utilizing such confidential information for purposes outside the scope of their business duty, or from disclosing or conveying them to third parties without the company's express consent.

However,  it must be asserted that a client is permitted to disclose to an attorney any information they deem necessary for the consultation, including trade secrets, without needing to obtain prior consent from the company, due to the attorney's statutory duty of confidentiality.

The purpose of disclosing or providing documents for the sake of seeking one's own relief is not unjustifiable. Furthermore, given that the plaintiff has obtained a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) from the attorney, it can be said that there are extraordinary circumstances. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that the plaintiff breached the duty of confidentiality.