B of A Unit Sues 4 Who Jumped Ship

NationsBanc Montgomery Securities is suing four former employees who left to join their former boss at Thomas Weisel Partners, claiming they violated confidentiality pacts and misappropriated information.

The investment banking arm of BankAmerica Corp., the biggest U.S. bank, sued Debra Somberg, Greg Ager, Todd Haggerty and Susanne Santola for wrongly using proprietary information, including e-mailing files with strategies on pitching clients to an address at Thomas Weisel Partners.

None of the suits, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, names Thomas Weisel or his firm as defendants.

The suits follow the defection of up to 60 investment banking staffers from NationsBanc Montgomery Securities in the last six months.

The company is reorganizing to work closely with clients of BankAmerica, which in 1998 merged with NationsBank, and offer a broader array of services. Many of those who left joined Thomas Weisel, who quit as head of NationsBanc Montgomery in September to start his own investment bank.

“We have taken this legal action in order to protect our valuable interest in this information,” said Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for NationsBanc Montgomery. She would not comment specifically about the suits.

The court granted temporary restraining orders against the defendants, preventing them from “using, concealing or destroying” the information, Smith said.

Individual suits were filed against Somberg and Ager and a third suit was filed against Haggerty and Santola together.

Amanda Duckworth, a spokeswoman for Thomas Weisel Partners, said the firm was aware of the suits and that the employees will “vigorously defend” themselves. She said none of the employees would comment.

Of the four employees, only Somberg joined Thomas Weisel Partners as a partner. She is an investment banker specializing in consumer industries.