Legal
New York Court Overturns Verdict Against UBS In Employee Case

The bank reportedly said it is pleased with the court's decision. A new trial is being planned.
A New York court has overturned a jury verdict in favour of a
former UBS employee who
claimed he was illegally fired.
Trevor Murray’s 2017 trial victory was invalid because the judge
failed to inform jurors that a whistle-blower must prove that
their employer intentionally retaliated against them, the 2nd US
Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled on Friday, according
to a story by Bloomberg.
The appeals court ordered a new trial. In a statement, the court
stated: “The parties are directed to appear before the court for
an initial pretrial conference on April 7, 2015, at 2:00
p.m.”
Bloomberg said that Murray’s lawyer, Robert Herbst,
didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
UBS told WealthBriefing: "We are pleased with this decision. As we’ve said from the beginning, this suit has no merit and we will continue to vigorously defend the case."
Murray, who worked for UBS’s commercial mortgage-backed securities business for one year, accused UBS of violating whistle-blower protections as laid out in the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act. His suit described a “concerted, extended effort” by managers and colleagues to get him to write bullish assessments, the report said.
However, the Sarbanes-Oxley law requires “a
whistle-blower-employee like Murray to prove by a preponderance
of the evidence that the employer took the adverse employment
action against the whistle-blower-employee with retaliatory
intent,” the report quoted the appeals court as saying.
Murray was first employed by UBS Securities, a broker-dealer
registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, from
around May 2007 to September 2009, at which time he was laid off.
In early 2011, UBS Securities asked Murray to return to work for
the company. He rejoined the bank in that year as a senior
commercial mortgage-backed security strategist and executive
director.
UBS has said that Murray wasn’t a whistle-blower, and that his
employment was ended as part of a broader set of staff cuts.