Old National Bank Sues Bell Bank Over Alleged Mass Resignation
Old National Bank has filed a lawsuit against Bell Bank, claiming that the Fargo, North Dakota-based lender orchestrated a coordinated “en masse resignation” of senior employees from two Minnesota ONB branches. These employees were immediately transferred to Bell, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Minnesota.
Named in the lawsuit are eight former ONB employees, who are accused of taking confidential information and customer relationships with them when they left the bank. The mass resignation occurred on December 8, with every senior business and commercial bank employee at ONB’s Brainerd, Minnesota, location and key employees at the Baxter, Minnesota, branch resigning simultaneously, leading to the closure of both branches.
Allegations of Wrongdoing
Old National Bank alleges that the coordinated resignations were a “coup d’état” designed to cause maximum disruption to the bank. The lawsuit claims that the employees had been planning their departure for weeks or months while still being employed by ONB, violating their fiduciary duty of loyalty.
After submitting resignation letters with identical typographical errors, the former employees allegedly removed boxes of documents and materials from their branches without allowing the bank to inspect them. Bell Bank then reportedly positioned these employees to service the same customers they had handled at ONB, actively soliciting ONB’s clients to move their business to Bell.
Response from Bell Bank
A spokesperson for Bell Bank disputed the allegations of wrongdoing and stated that the bank looks forward to demonstrating why the employees left ONB and joined Bell. The spokesperson expressed excitement about having the new team members on board and serving the communities of Brainerd and Baxter.
ONB asked the former employees to certify that they did not possess any confidential information or disclose it to Bell, but the employees did not provide this information, leading to the lawsuit. ONB declined to comment on the ongoing litigation or personnel matters.
Background and Context
In May, Old National Bank completed a $1.4 billion acquisition of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Bremer Bank, which had a significant presence in the Brainerd-Baxter market. ONB had previously laid off 244 former Bremer employees in September, although it is unclear how many of them were from the Brainerd or Baxter locations.
For more information, you can refer to the source.
